LifeSouth Community Blood Centers want people to start their year off by saving three lives as part of National Blood Donor Month.
Gary Kirkland, a spokesman for LifeSouth, said UF and Santa Fe College students help supply more than 190 units needed weekly for the community.
“They’re young. They’re healthy. They’re able to donate, and they do,” Kirkland said.
Clay Gibbons, the center’s district community development coordinator, said January is the perfect time to donate and replenish supplies because the week between Christmas and the new year is the slowest for donations. He said more than 30 percent of people are eligible to donate blood but less than 5 percent actually do.
LifeSouth collects umbilical cord blood, stem cells, bone marrow, plasma and platelets. They also supply the major hospitals in the area, which use the blood to treat trauma patients, cancer patients, burn victims and patients with other diseases affecting the blood.
