We asked readers to share stories of why they participate in the annual St. Baldrick's Day fundraiser, which generates money for cancer research through pledges made to people willing to have their head shaved. Here are two responses:

Jake Seibert, Seneca:

My name is Jake Seibert and I am 14 years old. I am in eighth grade at Seneca Middle School. This is my first year to participate in St. Baldrick's.

I am very lucky to be healthy and able to do the things I love. I enjoy motocross racing, playing football, hunting and fishing. St. Baldrick's is my way of being able to help kids who have cancer. My great-grandpa died of cancer and cancer really sucks. My aunt is fighting cancer right now.

As a kid, there are limited things we can do to help with cancer research, St Baldrick's is an awesome way to help. My goal is to raise $500. I am very close to that amount so I hope to raise more than that. With my help and everyone who donates maybe some kid will get treatment and be well enough that they can run and play outside or whatever they choose to do.

Rita Chovan, Ottawa:

I am the co-chairwoman of the Ottawa St. Baldrick's event. I brought the idea of St. Baldrick's to the area five years ago and am so excited at how it has grown!

I started this event because of my nephew, Jonathon Barlett. On Dec. 27, 2001, Jonny lost his battle with acute lymphocytic leukemia just one month shy of his eighth birthday. After personally witnessing what my brother, his wife and daughter and my mother and her husband went through, I knew I needed to do something so this would not have to happen to families and innocent children ever again.

Worldwide, 160,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer each year. Childhood cancer kills more U.S. children than any other disease -- more than AIDS, asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and congenital anomalies combined.

The St. Baldrick's event was started in 1999 when three friends in the reinsurance business decided to turn their industry's St. Patrick's Day party into a benefit for kids with cancer. The three planned to raise "$17,000 on the 17th," recruiting 17 colleagues to raise $1,000 each to be shorn. Instead, the first St. Baldrick's event, on March 17, 2000, raised more than $104,000! St. Baldrick's is the world's largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research.

Volunteers and donors see it can be fun to support a serious cause. Young cancer patients and survivors see how many people care. And researchers see St. Baldrick's funds helping to find cures! Since the first event in 2000, St. Baldrick's volunteers have raised more than $34 million for life-saving research and 2008 promises even more exciting progress. The mission of the St. Baldrick's Foundation is to capture the attention of the public and the media, increasing awareness of childhood cancer -- the No. 1 disease killer of U.S. children -- and to convey the vital need for continued childhood cancer research, to save the lives of infants, children and teens fighting cancer.

I want to thank my family and friends for their continued support of something they never thought would even get one shavee. I want to thank the local businesses and citizens for their continued support with raffle and monetary donations, including the use of their wonderful establishment (Jeremiah Joe, DeWayne and Pam Cronkright). Many thanks goes out to the stylists and barbers who have taken so much of their time and shaved hundreds of heads. But I mostly want to thank the almost 300 men, women and children who have been brave enough to shave their hair and raise more than $125,000 in the five years since the start of Ottawa's St. Baldrick's event. Without their bravery this event would not happen.