When a disaster occurs, you may want to donate blood to help out. While it may be more helpful to wait rather than donate immediately, you’ll need to know where your local blood bank is either way. This tool can help.

This tool from the American Association of Blood Banks can find blood banks in your area. Enter your city and zip code and it will give you the address and phone numbers of facilities in your area. Keep in mind that while the Red Cross is one of the biggest and most recognizable collectors of blood donations, they only account for about 40% of blood donations. Another 50% of donated blood in the United States comes from community-based blood centers. So, if your local Red Cross isn’t accepting donations, check the other centers in your area to see if they have a need as well.

Also remember that blood banks need donations in the weeks after a tragedy just as much as immediately after. When a disaster becomes highly publicized, banks are often flooded with donations (which is good!) but donated blood only has a shelf life of around 42. If your local donation center is full, be sure to check back again in a few weeks when the news has died down.

Blood Bank Locator | AABB

Source: LifeHacker