American Red Cross looks for more blood donations

The American Red Cross is asking you to roll up your sleeves and donate.

Several organizations are hosting blood drives around Western New York.

It comes as the country deals with a blood emergency.

In Western New York, donations are about 25% lower than they were one year ago, translating to about a 1,000 fewer units.

We spoke with the regional C.E.O. of the Red Cross who says travel is impacting the number of donations.

"In Western New York, it's you know, as we've progressed further and further out of covid, we've seen that travel and those summer schedules fill up with people, and it takes away from their time to donate," Nick Bond, C.E.O. of the WNY Region of the American Red Cross said. "This summer, people had said, this is going to be the highest travel season past covid, and they were right. Western New York is a community that gives, and I know when people start hearing that there is this need, people will respond."

You can find a list of blood drives happening in our community here .