RALEIGH-  Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, WakeMed's Mothers' Milk Bank us still accepting donations for newborns in need.

“They are small, they are premature, they are experiencing illness potentially," said Montana Wagner-Gillespie, manager of WakeMed Mothers’ Milk Bank. "Breast milk can be life-saving for these babies.”

WakeMed has one of only 27 non-profit milk banks in the country. It screens each potential donor three different times before the person is given the green light to donate milk. 

This was something that's always happened, not just now in the pandemic. 

The mothers’ milk bank screens, processes, and dispenses donated breast milk from healthy moms across the area. 

It's thankful in the time of a pandemic to have not seen a shortage of donations.

“When people are home and seeing their own freezers and they are seeing all of that breast milk kind of pile up, they are realizing, 'oh wow!  We need to make room for our own food too.' So we have actually seen a lot of people start to stay home which is great and start the process completely remote, ” said Wagner-Gillespie.

A blood draw will have to be taken at area lab, but the sign-up process can be done from home on the group's website and it'll even ship a cooler to send the milk back in. 

It’s crucial to keep the donations coming, particularly because no one knows how long the public health crisis will last. 

“In times like these, we absolutely need more donations to make sure that we can meet that increased demand,” said Wagner-Gillespie.

There is also the option to drop-off milk at seven different  locations throughout Wake County. 

They can do a no-contact exchange.

For more information, click here.