Nine inches of snow didn't stop some city employees and volunteers from trekking out to O'Fallon City Hall to donate blood on Friday. 

O’Fallon Volunteer Services teamed up with the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center (MVRBC) to host the blood drive at the Municipal Center on Friday afternoon.

January is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month, and while the week's weather seemed to affect the turn-out earlier in the day, O’Fallon’s Manager of Volunteer Services Kathy Halstead said 14 donations were already scheduled for the drive. 

The goal is to collect 24 units by the end of the drive, which runs from noon until 4 p.m. There is still time to stop by and give. Volunteers must show a photo I.D. and are encouraged to eat a good meal four hours before donating. Volunteer Services is providing pizza, cookies, chips and drinks for donors. Walk-ins are welcome. 

Donors can give whole blood, donate platelets or make double red blood cell donations. 

According to MVRBC, there are three ways to donate: 

There are three ways you can donate:

1. Whole Blood:  One donation produces one unit of red cells, a partial unit of platelets, one unit of plasma.
2. Double Red:  This process collects a concentrated amount of red cells. Blood Types Need:  A Negative, B Negative, O Positive, O Negative.
3. Platelets:  Especially important to people undergoing treatment for cancer or transplants.

"The importance of donating is, with the cold weather and snow, donations go down because people are reluctant, but at the same time, more accidents occur, which increases the need for blood," Halstead said. "It's scary to know something might happen to you or a loved one and wonder if there will be enough blood to save their lives."

Halstead added the purpose of the drive is to help keep a safe blood supply in local hospitals.