Founded in 1957, the Sickle Cell Disease Foundation of California is the first and oldest, non-profit, social service sickle cell disease agency in the U.S. The MISSION of the SCDFC is to provide life- enhancing programs and services to individuals with sickle cell disease, to broaden public aware- ness about sickle cell disease and to promote medical research to find a cure. Currently approximately 250 million people worldwide carry the gene responsible for sickle cell disease (SCD) and other hemoglobin diseases. Each year about 300,000 infants are born with a major hemoglobin disease worldwide. In the US, 10% of the population is at risk for SCD. It is estimated that there are approx. 5,000 persons with sickle cell disease in Los Angeles.