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Jose Garza, operations manager at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is a frequent platelet

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For second-year psychology student Kharifa Young, a blood-donating veteran, there is no greater sight than the collection bag being filled up with her own blood. As she watches the blood level rise, her spirits rise as well because she knows she is making an effort to help others.

Giving blood is a simple process that lasts an hour and offers one important reward: the potential to save up to three lives.

According to the Web site for the American Red Cross, healthy people who are over the age of 17 and weigh at least 110 pounds are eligible to donate blood and help fulfill the increasing demand for the precious fluid.

The number of blood donors has gone up in recent years because people have realized the importance of giving blood, said Teresa Solorio, public affairs manager for the Southern California Blood Region of the American Red Cross.

“Sometime in their lives, someone they love or even they themselves will need that blood,” she said.

While different people have different stories about how and why they started giving blood, many students say their ultimate goal is to help save a life. Some started giving blood the moment they turned 17.

“I feel like I’ve contributed to someone’s life,” said Mercy Malick, a donor at the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center who has given blood over 50 times.

“You might walk down the street without knowing if the person you walk past is someone you helped save,” she said.

Others are like 20-year-old Rita Miller, who donates for a family friend who is going to have surgery. She gives blood because she personally knows someone who needs it.

“Giving blood for someone I know is definitely different from just donating blood to a bank,” Miller said. “I feel a sense of urgency this time.”

The experience of blood receivers whose lives have been changed because of donations serve to confirm many donors’ determination to save lives, said Gary Lizitsky, a 54-year-old white blood cell cancer survivor who required the use of 184 units of donated blood to fight his disease.

“Without the blood donors, I would have been dead six years ago from non-Hodgkin lymphoma because I wouldn’t have had enough blood during my bone marrow transplant,” Lizitsky said.

Some people donate because of stories they have heard, as in the case of Jose Garza, the operations manager at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He heard about a motorcycle accident victim who received donated blood and lived, and then Garza felt compelled to give.

“During his time (in the hospital), he used 92 units of blood and survived,” Garza said.

Incentives such as drawings for $500 American Express gift certificates during the months of October and November are being implemented to encourage people, especially students, to donate, Solorio said.

“College students are so important for blood donations,” Solorio said. “One out of five donors is a high school or college student.”

Yet only 5 percent of the eligible U.S. population donates blood. Solorio said many people are concerned about the impact of donating and harbor common misconceptions such as the fear of gaining weight, acquiring a blood-borne disease or, most prevalently, facing the needle.

“If people could just get over that little fear of needles, they could actually save lives,” Solorio said.

The increase in blood donors is not enough to match the increase in the need for blood. The deficit is reflected in the importation of 40 percent of blood from outside the region, Solorio said.

“We’re supposed to have a five- to seven-day supply of blood on the shelves at any time, but we actually have only three-quarters of a day of O-negative blood and two days of O-positive blood,” Solorio said.

With the demand for blood increasing, it is becoming even more important to offer a little bit of one’s time and blood to help save the life of another, Lizitsky said.

“It is absolutely safe and requires a very small period of time, but the blood one donates is worth more than any amount of money,” he said.