The American Red Cross is making an urgent plea for people of all types to give blood as it faces what it is calling a “looming shortage”.

The Red Cross says that over the three months or so, donations have gone down by about 8 percent. That means that they've had 80,000 fewer donations than expected. Several blood drives have been organized across West Michigan through Aug. 20, and can be found The American Red Cross website.

Donors with the blood types O negative, B negative, and A negative are especially needed. O negative is also a universal donor.

In addition to blood, the Red Cross needs platelet donors.

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