World Blood Donor day had a roaring start in Tauranga with a queue lining up when the blood centre in Cameron Road opened on Monday morning.
World Blood Donor Day is an international event the NZ Blood Service is celebrating across the country.

Otumoetai College students Olivia Schultz and Akshay Kalyan gave away about 50 sausages to blood donors on Monday morning.

For the service it is an opportunity to thank blood donors, and also an important chance to encourage more people to become donors.
The theme this year is New Blood for Life, reflecting the need for more new donors to come forward and be regular donors throughout their life.
The service targets 18-30 year olds 'Gen Y' in particular, says NZBS Marketing Manager Paul Hayes.
Donors have dropped nationally in number from 21,000 to 17,000 over the past year, and the service needs new donors to share the load.
In Tauranga the number of new people donating is down 23 per cent - the third biggest decrease, behind Hawke's Bay and the North Shore.
The service has enlisted the help of some of the world's most popular vampires to encourage fans to become blood donors.
NZBS has teamed up with Hachette New Zealand, publishers of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, and PRIME, the broadcaster of HBO's critically-acclaimed True Blood television series, starring Anna Paquin.
Currently, fewer than five per cent of New Zealanders give blood and the number of donors is declining by 1000 people each year.
"We can't fake it like the synthetic 'True Blood'," says Paul.
"We rely on our blood donors to donate the 3000 donations needed each and every week to save lives."
The relationship has been forged in the lead up to Harris' 10th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, 'Dead in the Family'. It is to be released later this month.
Author Charlaine Harris says she is pleased her novels, and the resulting television show, can be leveraged to help inspire New Zealanders to support such an important cause.
Publisher Hachette New Zealand has recently re-released Harris' first nine books with new covers that tie in with the popular television show, with each featuring an on-cover sticker to appeal to potential blood donors.