Red Cross still needs donations

American Red Cross officials stress that organization's ongoing need for donations of blood and money.

However, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., the outpouring of contributions was almost too much at that point.

The Red Cross is the nation's biggest blood supplier. Russell G. "Russ" Pearson, director of the Red Cross' Wilkes-Alleghany Chapter, said that following Sept. 11, "People turned out in mass quantities to fill that need." But because so many of the casualties at the World Trade Center were deaths rather than injuries, the need for blood was not as great as anticipated. "We didn't need all we got, as it turned out," said Pearson.

However, rumors of donated blood going to waste on a large scale were unfounded, he said. Blood has a shelf life of 42 days, and it contains three usable components: red cells, plasma and platelets.