NORWICH – Almost everyone has a connection to cancer, that’s why the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser has become such a popular and important event in Chenango County, and beyond, organizers say.

To raise money specifically for childhood cancer research, 45 local St. Baldrick’s participants will be shaving-off their hair Saturday at the Howard Johnson’s Ballroom in Norwich. The night is open to the public, and those entered will be looking for donations right up until they are clean-shaven.

Andrea MacIntosh says she’s buzzing her head for Shannon, an acquaintance who died from Leukemia at the age of six.

“She had such a hard life,” said MacIntosh, who is a speech and language therapist at Stanford J. Gibson School in Norwich. “The fact is these kids have no control over their pain and suffering – it makes me think about my own children. After Shannon, I had always thought; ‘What can I do? What can I say? What can I offer that will mean something?”