The American Red Cross is asking for the public's help during the summer as the organization faces a blood supply shortage.

School donations are a major source of blood supply and with schools out for the summer, the supply dwindles. 

According to the Red Cross, the donation itself takes around 8 to 10 minutes. The total process takes less than an hour.

Before one's blood is drawn, a donor will be asked about his or her health history and have some vitals checked like pulse, iron count and temperature.

Red Cross representatives say one donation can help save the lives of three people.

"This year is the worst we've had in many, many years," says Red Cross executive Susan Sommer. "By the end of June we were 61,000 units behind where we needed to be."