OXFORD – The 4th Annual Team Chenango 5k for suicide awareness and prevention is set to kick off Saturday, Oct. 18 at Lafayette Park in Oxford.

Team Chenango consists of nine members who hold two fundraising events per year. The team has participated in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) Out of the Darkness walk for the past five years. One hundred eight Americans take their own life each day, according to the AFSP.

Danielle Marshman Williamson, a Team Chenango Member, said, “This past June we walked 18 miles from 7:30 p.m. until 3 a.m. in Philadelphia along with approximately 2,000 other people to raise nearly $2,000,000.”

This Saturday, Team Chenango is opting to start something new with the hopes to draw more attention – the members will all wear tutus. “We will be sporting these for the 5K on Saturday, we will also have other people sporting them as well,” Williamson said. “We may have others for sale if we get enough time to make them.”

Registration for the 5k begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and runners and walkers begin at 10 a.m. The fee to register is $25, which includes lunch and a T-shirt. There will be food and a bake sale on the park throughout the morning.

According to the AFSP website, suicide claims more lives than war, murder, and natural disasters combined.

The website also reads that more than 39,000 people in the United State die by suicide each year, and it is the fourth leading cause of death for those between the ages of 15 and 64 in the US. Additionally, the foundation estimates there are four male suicides to each female suicide, but “three times as many females attempt suicide.”