The Suffolk Sickle Cell Foundation has raised $12,000 this year to increase awareness and help local people diagnosed with the inherited disease.

The organization raised $4,000 from the 41st annual sickle cell charity awards banquet on March 5, said the Rev. Felton Whitfield, chairman of the foundation’s advisory committee. Approximately 200 people attended the banquet, he said.

“We feel like we did well this year,” Whitfield said. “People were generous.”

The remaining funds came from donations made by individuals, civic groups, churches and other non-profit organizations, Whitfield said.

The Rev. Debra L. Haggins, the first female chaplain of Hampton University, spoke at the banquet. Haggins, who is campus pastor and executive director of the university’s Ministers’ Conference and Choir Directors’ and Organists’ Guild, challenged people to sacrifice their time, efforts and funds to find a cure for sickle cell.

She also challenged the organization to make changes to better serve clients, Whitfield said.

Over the next year, the Suffolk Sickle Cell Foundation will place a greater focus on public awareness about the disease, Whitfield said. The organization plans on participating in health fairs and educational workshops and holding a prayer breakfast fundraiser, youth luncheon and an awareness walk this year, he said.

“We feel like awareness for sickle cell has fallen by the wayside, when you compare it to breast cancer, for example,” Whitfield said. “We want to build up recognition for sickle cell.”

The foundation is jumping on the technology bandwagon by creating a Facebook page, he said.

Whitfield is hoping the 25 clients served by the Suffolk foundation will share their stories with the community.

“We would like them to be more involved and help bring it to the forefront,” he said.

At the banquet, Whitfield was honored for 25 years of service as chairman of the Suffolk Sickle Cell Foundation.

The foundation is located at 509 E. Washington St., in the Local Union 2426 office. It offers education, counseling, testing and other assistance to those who have sickle cell disease or the sickle cell trait.

The most common form of the inherited disease, sickle cell anemia, causes the body to make abnormally shaped red blood cells, which can block blood flow in limbs and organs, according to the National Institutes of Health. That can cause pain, damage and an increased risk of stroke and other problems. Those who have sickle cell trait do not have the disease but can pass it on to their children.

The disease is most common in black people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one of every 500 blacks born in America has sickle cell disease. About two million people have the trait that allows them to pass it on to their children.

Donations can be mailed to the Suffolk Sickle Cell Foundation at P.O. Box 1975, Suffolk, VA 23439