Bitter cold weather leads to a shortage of blood donors

NEW BERLIN (WITI) -- Bitter cold weather leads to a shortage of blood donors in southeast Wisconsin. It's the perfect storm for the American Red Cross -- as the organization was already in desperate need of donors.

Although Olivia Feider is an avid blood donor. But she admits procrastination got the best of her Tuesday afternoon.

"The thought of donating makes me happy because it's like, oh, I'm helping people and saving three lives. You're making a difference to someone who needs blood," said Feider.

While the need for blood donors is constant, blood drives took a massive hit on Monday. 240 blood drives were cancelled in 23 states due to inclement weather. An estimated 7,000 donations were gone.

The American Red Cross is not alone in this dilemma. The BloodCenter of Wisconsin is seeing the same difficulty.