The American Red Cross launched the Missing Types campaign, an international effort to encourage new blood donors, as well as donors who have not given in years, to give blood and to help ensure lifesaving blood products are available for patients in need, report PRNewswire.

As part of the campaign, the letters A, B, and O – letters used to identify blood types – are disappearing across the country and around the world from corporate logos, favorite brands and frequently visited websites. Many may not realize just how important these three letters can be until they are gone.

“Everyday thousands of patients across the United States rely on generous blood donors for critical blood transfusions,” said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the Red Cross. “However, we have seen a troubling decline in the number of new blood donors. We urge the public to roll up a sleeve and fill the missing types before these lifesaving letters go missing from hospital shelves.”

In fact, for the past four years, new Red Cross donors have declined by about 80,000 each year. The blood donor base is shrinking. This is not just a Red Cross trend, but a challenge blood collection organizations face across the country and around the world – which is why many are rallying behind this campaign. Missing Types highlights just how important A’s, B’s, and O’s are – And, there is no _meric_n Red Cr_ss without the A’s and O.

The Red Cross’ corporate partners who have joined the Missing Types campaign, include: Adobe, Anheuser-Busch, AvalonBay Communities, Inc., Domino’s, Dropbox, Google, IBM, Land O’Lakes, Inc., Mastercard, Nationwide, Neiman Marcus, the New York Yankees, Oreo, PayPal, Salesforce, State Farm®, Sunoco and U.S. Bank. More here.