I'm not sure what the reason was, but I felt the need to donate blood after an absence of more than a decade.

Maybe it was the story in the news about the need for blood donations in Iraq having soared to more than 400 percent since that conflict began.

Or the small blurb I had read on a webpage recently about how every two seconds, someone in this country will need a blood transfusion.

I googled "blood donation, Federal Way," and the website for the Puget Sound Blood Center popped up.

Did you know that at least 900 people must donate blood through the Blood Center each day just to keep up with needs of local patients?

Or that a single pint of your blood could possibly save three lives?

I drove over to the Blood Center, west of the Commons Mall on 324th and parked under the sign with the big blue letters.

A friendly fellow with a volunteer nametag that said "Keith" punched my name into the database and handed me a sheet to fill out.

It had a daunting list of questions about things like whether I had traveled to Nigeria (never been there), or if it has been a year since I'd had a body piercing. (yes and...no, no piercing.)

I let it slip to Keith that I was with the newspaper and he brightened up even more, signaling to someone in a nearby cubicle.

A very nice lady named April came to take my completed form, inspecting it and handing it to another smiling young lady name Robyn, who escorted me to a screening room where she did an "iron test."

Robyn explained that if the drop of blood sinks in the blueish infusion, then it's OK for iron content. I confessed to her that I'm a part-time vegetarian and asked if she has ever seen it not sink?

"Not very often," she said. "If you don't eat red meat or liver, fish or green vegetables also have iron and the test says you're OK."

Robyn seated me in a comfy lounger, and while she scrubbed my arm with some disinfectant, Supervisor Juli Storslee came to introduce herself.

I felt like a VIP with all the attention and Juli told me that business was beginning to pick up, and that they have been in this location since last August.

"It took a while for people to find us here, but with some advertising and with the new call center, it's getting busier," she said.

Robyn had the blood flowing out of me almost before I noticed, and I watched as it filled the pint bag. It was attached to a device on the floor that looked like a sewing machine and sounded like the cooing of doves.

Another smiling person named Debbi came up to check on my progress. Debbi told me, "There's an anti-coagulant in the bag that has to be rocked back and forth."

According the Red Cross, to date there is still no way to store whole blood more than about forty days, and blood platelets for only five days.

The freezing of blood and blood plasma is possible, but it's expensive to do so and plasma is still only viable for about a year.

This means that the need for donated blood will never really decrease, but will only increase as populations grow.

After about eight minutes, I was done and pointed in the direction of the canteen for juice and cookies.

If you are squeamish about donating blood, I can assure you that it's not as traumatic as going to the dentist. (I'll bet your dentist probably doesn't give you cookies either.)

And if you feel like doing something worthwhile, you can volunteer to help at any blood donation center.

April explained, "Volunteers do all the canteen work and that saves money that would be paid in salaries, so because this is a not-for-profit organization, that money goes to research."

At the canteen, Char and Wayne, two volunteers supplied me with grape juice and a lemon snickerdoodle cookie.

It wasn't until I'd finished my grape juice and had my camera out to take a few pictures that I noticed Keith Thomson had left the reception desk and taken a lounge seat and was donating.

With his permission, I snapped a picture of him and said, "You really are a volunteer, aren't you Keith?"

"Oh yes," he said. "You can donate platelets every three days...whole blood every fifty-six days."

On my way out the door Char reminded me to grab my notebook and said, "Can I sign you up for the next donation?"

April arrived to help nudge me, but it wasn't necessary. In my small way, I am a lifesaver.

Everyone there thanked me for donating, but no thanks were necessary, the snickerdoodle was good enough for me.

You can be a lifesaver too. Visit www.psbc.org online, or call 253-945-8660.