Wagga residents winding up their busy lives for the end of the year means blood donations drop in December.

Wagga Blood Donor Centre still needs hundreds of volunteers to donate before the new year to prevent a shortage of vital blood products. Red Cross spokeswoman Jemma Falkenmire said the organisation has launched its Christmas blood blitz to help fill the void.

“Cancer patients are the biggest users of donated blood and rely on platelets to make it through chemotherapy,” Ms Falkenmire said.

“The problem is platelets cannot be stock-piled, so we need a constant, fresh supply as anything collected by Christmas Day will have expired or run out early next week.”