Summer is usually a time when donations of many kinds slow. The donation of blood is no different. The need for blood, however, does not diminish.

According to the American Red Cross, only three out of 100 Americans donate blood. But someone out there every two seconds needs blood. Fewer people are donating, the Red Cross says.

The main blood groups of A, B and O are needed, and the Red Cross is waging a Missing Types Movement to help fill blood banks with those needed types.

A pint of blood can be separated into a number of different products to be used, from platelets to red blood cells to plasma and whole blood as well.

One in three people will need a blood transfusion, according to oneblood.org, which supplies blood to several southwest Georgia hospitals. Platelets help stop bleeding in transplant or cardiac surgeries, OneBlood points out, and a single car accident victim can require up to 100 pints of blood. Three drops of blood have more than 1 billion blood cells, and the average human heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood each day.

With more people on the road, the chances for more accidents increase, and with that, the odds that someone will need blood goes own the rise as well.

You can give whole blood, or give plasma, platelets and what the Red Cross class “Power Red” donations of red blood cells. You can donate platelets every seven days up to 24 times a year, according to OneBlood.

Donating blood is truly giving the gift of life and one pint of blood and its products can go a long way in helping many others. So as the summer goes on, don’t forget about the need for blood and what you can do about it.