NEDERLAND — When Richard Design Services in Nederland formed a charitable division within the company last month, E-I Designer Doug Underwood said there was no question that they would support the LifeShare Blood Center.

“LifeShare does a great service to this community and we knew we wanted to support them as a company,” Underwood said.

For most of the day Wednesday, the LifeShare Bus sat in front of the RDS building on Boston Avenue. Donor Services representative Diana Turner said LifeShare was hoping the drive would attract a lot of donors.

“Right now we have a huge shortage due to losing so many donors after Hurricane Rita,” Turner said. “A lot of our donors, we are finding, have moved away. Things are picking up now, but we still need a lot of units.”

According to Turner, LifeShare must have 200 to 300 donors per day to meet the demand for blood units required at area hospitals and clinics.

“We try to keep our shelves full,” she explained. “We usually test the blood units we receive within 24-48 hours and get them shipped off to hospitals and cancer treatment facilities.”

Turner said the blood donated at RDS Wednesday would most likely save several lives before the weekend was up.

“One pint of blood can save two to three lives,” she explained. “We are really needing people to donate right now. I think the rain is slowing people from coming out, but they need to remember accidents are going on in all of this rain and we need to blood to save people’s lives.”

“It’s never good to wait until the last moment to donate.”

According to Turner, there is never one particular time of year when shortages occur, however, once the demand increases the need for donors rises.

“We are having three to four drives each day to compensate,” she said.

To find out where a local blood drive is scheduled, log onto www.lifeshare.org to see a complete listing for an entire month.

Contact this reporter at asanders@panews.com or (409) 721-2427.