Shavees at the 2023 Norwich St. Baldrick's. To get involved in fighting childhood cancer, join the Norwich St. Baldrick's as a shavee, event support volunteer, or fundraising volunteer. (Photo by Dustin Genter of 5th Dimension Photography)

NORWICH — Sign ups for the Norwich St. Baldrick's have begun and there are many ways to get involved.

The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a global organization that aims to support research into treatments for childhood cancer. In 2023, the organization raised $23,028,376.

This year, the St. Baldrick's Foundation is celebrating its 25th year of fighting childhood cancer, and the Norwich chapter of the organization is celebrating with another in-person head shaving event.

Participants, supporters, and community members will gather at the Canasawacta Country Club, located at 241 County Route 44 in Norwich, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 16 to watch Chenango County residents "brave the shave" in support of children affected by cancer.

Norwich St. Baldrick's Co-Organizer Marissa Phelps said last year's event had 51 registered participants, with 35 of them signed up as "shavees," and raised $50,111. So far, the 2024 Norwich St. Baldrick's has 18 participants signed up and has raised $6,208 of their $50,000 goal.

Those who want to get involved in this year's event can do so by signing up as a shavee, which is a commitment to shave their head; an event support volunteer, who helps with running the event; or a fundraising participant, who focuses on raising money through donations from friends, family, and coworkers, as well as spreading the word about St. Baldrick's and what they do.

"There’s the option too of just showing up. You can do a donation there, if you wanted to show up to check it out and kind of cheer everybody on. We welcome the community members to do that too," said Phelps.

To sign up to be a participant in this year's St. Baldrick's event, visit StBaldricks.org/events/norwich2024 and click "Join Us."

This year's event will look a little different, as it's being moved from its usual location at the Norwich American Legion to the Canasawacta Country Club.

"We were looking for something that could accommodate the space that we need and also have some food options," said Phelps. "We’re super grateful for the Legion for hosting us, and it was a really hard decision to consider other places. But they don’t have a chef available at the moment, the pandemic kind of changed their situation with that. So we really wanted to be able to offer food for purchase, drinks for purchase, things like that as part of the event, and also have the space."

She said Canasawacta Country Club Owner Tim Carson will be preparing a limited menu for the 2024 event.

The Blarney Stone Pub in downtown Norwich will be supporting the event with the sale of paper "charms" that donors can write their names on and have displayed in the pub.

"Last year they did some fundraising for us on St. Patrick's Day, because the event fell after St. Patrick’s Day," said Phelps. "We did really well with that with their assistance with that, so they’re going to do that again for us. They’ve already said that they’d be happy to do that. Probably starting sometime in early March we’ll have that going with them."

The group will also be omitting the virtual event this year, which Phelps said will free up their audio capabilities. However, she said they will likely record the event for those who couldn't make it or would like a copy of the footage.

Phelps also wants to focus more on bringing in the community to this year's event.

"Historically we’ve had primarily obviously shavees, family members, and friends, and I think that especially last year it really started to feel like it was growing into a little bit more of a community presence," she said. "We really hope to keep that going where it’s a community event that everybody feels like they want to come to. While sad at times, we aim to keep that energy and lightheartedness focused on doing some positive change and good."

"This will kind of come more in the final planning stages, but I just want to make sure too that we have a family friendly presence down to like some coloring pages for the kids, music, things like that that will just kind of help to keep it an enjoyable and engaging community event," she added.

This is Phelps' first year as an organizer, and her third year on the Norwich St. Baldrick's Committee. She said she's been attending the events for many years, and finally got involved in 2021.

"I’m lucky enough to have never been personally affected by a family member having childhood cancer, but a childhood friend of mine had it and certainly I know people who have had close family members affected," said Phelps. "It’s children with cancer, how do you not feel passionate about that?"

For more information on the Norwich St. Baldrick's event, visit StBaldricks.org/events/norwich2024, the St. Baldrick's - Norwich, NY Facebook page, and the StBaldricksNorwich Instagram page, or contact the Norwich St. Baldrick's Committee at StBaldricksNorwich@gmail.com.