(KLFY)- Schools are dismissed and temperatures are rising, that means summertime is upon us.

For the folks at Vitalant, that means a bigger push for blood donors to roll up their sleeves.

Sephanie Kizziar with Vialant explains, “Summer is the roughest time. Schedules change. People don’t make it a priority. Our supply dips.”

She says there is always a need for blood but this season the need hits differently coming off the heels of a global pandemic

“We lost a number of school blood drives. That really affected our supply. People were afraid, everyone suffered through the pandemic,” continues Kizziar.

Did you know every two seconds someone is the U.S. needs blood?

Did you know that just one donation from you can save up to three lives?

Kizziar adds, “We do have an urgent need for type O blood and platelets. They only have a five day shelf supply. There is always a constant need for those.”

She says the application and donation process is fairy simple.

At Vitalant, she says you can make an appointment online and be in and out within an hour.

“There is a steady supply. We want to be better than okay. We want to be self sustaining. We want to supply our whole community,” Kizziar says.