Jack and Jill of America holds blood drive for Sickle Cell Awareness Month

September marks Sickle Cell Awareness Month and one Coastal organization for African American families is doing its part to raise awareness.

Jack and Jill of America Incorporated partnered with the American Red Cross to hold its first ever sickle cell community blood drive over the weekend.

Shoppers at Edgewater Mall were able to donate blood and learn a little bit more about sickle cell disease.

Michelle Ellerby, president of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, shares with us why she cares about this cause. “I have had family members, friends who have lost their lives due to sickle cell and really just giving back to the community, making sure that our presence of the Jack and Jill Incorporated presence is known on the Gulf Coast.”

Sickle cell disease is inherited at birth and people living with sickle cell anemia have two faulty hemoglobin genes from each parent.