NORWICH – Norwich will again be one of the nearly 1,000 locations worldwide hosting the hugely successful St. Baldrick’s fundraiser – where participants raise money to shave their heads on St. Patrick’s Day in an effort to one day cure childhood cancer.

“It’s done to help find a cure for childhood cancer,” said Tracy Chawgo, the Norwich event’s organizer. “That’s it in a nutshell.”

Chawgo and several others have already organized teams and are starting their local fundraising campaigns. In total, Chawgo, an EMS member of the Norwich Fire Department, said he hopes participants can raise $20k, $4,000 more than last year’s tally that went toward cancer research.

“We’ll be a little bigger, hopefully a little bit better than last year’s, which was a huge a success,” Chawgo said. “We’re just getting started, and the more people we get to shave their heads, the better donations we’ll get for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.”

Following the national trend which saw the foundation raise $8.3 million in 2006 alone, St. Baldrick’s has outgrown its original site at the Music Shop Pub, and has been moved to the ballroom at the Howard Johnson’s Hotel on North Broad Street in downtown Norwich. Since it began in 2000, globally the event has raised over $20 million.

The shave-down’s creators say its popularity is directly related to the prevalence of cancer in nearly every society.