The L.D. Britt Foundation will host its 21st annual scholarship dinner at the Norfolk Waterside Marriot Hotel on Oct. 6.

The foundation, founded in 1995, has awarded more than $1 million in scholarships to minority students pursuing medical degrees in the Hampton Roads area. Each year, the foundation grants a four-year award, up to $10,000 per year, to a deserving student.

“This is a community initiative that’s become successful,” Dr. L.D. Britt said.

The cost of school is one of the biggest challenges for aspiring medical students. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, students are more than $160,000 in debt upon graduation. Minorities only make up 6 percent of practicing physicians.

However, the scholarship has reignited hope in these students by helping ease the blow of school expenses.

“People who want to go into the field shouldn’t be impeded,” Dr. Britt said.

Several scholarship recipients have expressed their gratitude for the scholarship program.

“With the assistance that I have received from the scholarship fund, not only have I been able to assist my family financially in our time of need, but I have also been able to both expand my role as a mentor to Richmond students and pursue other opportunities to enhance my professional development,” stated Akeem George, a 2012 scholarship recipient, on the foundation’s website.

“I am deeply grateful for the L.D. Britt, MD Scholarship and for what it represents: excellence in scholarship, and generosity in service,” stated Shannon Walker, a 2011 scholarship recipient and keynote speaker at last year’s scholarship dinner.

Dr. William E. Russell started the foundation in honor of Britt for performing life-saving surgery after Russell was diagnosed with colon cancer.

Britt, a Suffolk resident, is chair and Brickhouse Professor of Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School, former program chair of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and former president of the American College of Surgeons, the world’s largest organization of surgeons.

The foundation will also honor select individuals and organizations with community service awards.

Tickets to the event are available through the scholarship’s website at www.ldbrittmdscholarshipfund.org or through Lovie Brown at 446-8966 or brownlm@evms.edu. Reservations start at $75 apiece.

Tickets will be mailed to those who order before Sept. 25. Tickets purchased after that date can be picked up at Department of Surgery at EVMS.