MONTREAL - Every 80 seconds, someone needs blood in Quebec.

And while it takes about 1,000 donations to keep the province's blood supply stable, some cultural communities are dangerously under-represented.

"There are three big blood banks in the world: in Paris, in Quebec and New York City," said Delano George, who has sickle cell anemia, a blood disorder mostly affecting the black community. He needed repeated transfusions which cause him to develop a rare blood type.

Two years ago, he had a tumour removed from his spleen and needed 14 pints of blood.

"I wasn't a match and I came to learn during that time that I would most likely find a match of my blood within my own black community," he said.

George's story was a wake-up call for others, like community activist Gemma Raeburn-Baynes, who helped organize a blood drive in Cote-des-Neiges this coming Friday.

"After I heard Delano's story, how he almost died because they couldn't find blood for him, I said, No, we have to do something."

Anyone can come and give blood, but it is geared to the black community

"In the Caribbean, there are no blood banks per se. I think it's a cultural thing, they're not used to giving blood for no reason. They don't know the person; they're just going to give blood, so we have to assure them that this is very vital to our community," she said.

Hema-Quebec works to encourage all cultural communities to donate blood, said Nardege Ceneston of the organization.

"We want our collective blood supply to reflect the Quebec population," said Ceneston.

Raeburn-Baynes hopes the new community blood drive will be the first of many.

"It should be fun. We're doing it the Caribbean way," she said. "We've got corn soup, not just a little box of juice! Corn soup and Jamaican patties."

And for Delano, it's a thank you. After an agonizing wait, he received the blood he needed and the operation.

"It's a call to action for everyone to do something," he said. "It doesn't cost anything, takes about 10 minutes of your time and it saves lives."

The blood donor clinic takes place Friday, May 4 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Black Community Resource Centre, 6767 Cote-des-Neiges Rd.