Jay Watkins, born in Wisconsin, has always loved to dance and quickly became good at it. Becoming a ballroom dance instructor was a natural progression. Jay soon moved to Florida and opened the Jay Watkins Palm Beach Ballroom and Latin Dance Club. His skills have taken him all over Europe, South America and Hawaii.

 

In 2003, Jay Watkins was walking through the parking garage at his condo when he saw a young mother with her two children who were having difficulties walking. The mother explained that her children had Sickle-Cell Anemia, a blood disorder.

 

Since then, Mr. Watkins, of West Palm Beach, has been a volunteer with the Sickle Cell Foundation, organizing Christmas partied for kids with Sickle Cell. Besides the parties, he has arranged dance lessons and carriage rides for the children.

 

He founded the Jay Watkins Fund to help Sickle-Cell patients with their un-met needs. The Sickle Cell Foundation honored him for his work with an award during the 2010 Annual Eva W. Mack Luncheon.

 

“Sickle Cell is a devastating disease,” he said. “I enjoy helping the kids.”

 

Join Jay Watkins in “Helping the kids”, by clicking here to DONATE now.

 

 

 

In response to the health risk of COVID-19 all trainings and meetings hosted by the Sickle Cell Foundation and its programs have been postponed until further notice.  We hope this does not cause any inconvenience but believe that social distancing is appropriate at this time.

 

We will continue to provide information through delivery methods that ensure the health and safety of our participants, staff and host agencies.

 

The Florida Department of Health (Department) is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor the current outbreak of COVID-19 and is actively working to ensure that the most up-to-date CDC guidance is quickly and accurately disseminated to local partners. To see the latest case count please visit COVID-19 page, the Department is coordinating with our local partners to investigate, confirm, contain and report any cases.

 

For information from the CDC and the World Health Organization on COVID-19, please visit:

Please feel free to contact our office at 561-833-3113 or info@sicklecellpbc.org

 

We appreciate your continued support during this time and look forward to providing in-person services again in the near future.

 

Sickle Cell Foundation