They say that Christmas is a time for giving. Three local blood donors were celebrated for a lifetime of giving yesterday as each hit significant milestones at the Lismore Donor Centre.

Richard Gibson donated for the 500th time. His wife Beryle, for the 100th time, and Narelle Fox, coincidental timing, donated for the 200th time.

Combined, Richard, Beryle and Narelle have saved 2,400 lives during their donation journey.

All underplayed their achievements.

Beryle said, "I suppose it is. It's nothing special, while Richard said, "I guess. I don't think about it. It's just something I can do, and it doesn't cost me anything."

The other similarity between the three wonderfully generous plasma donors was their starting age, between 18 and 21.

Beryle's mother was a nurse, so that inspired her to start donating.

"It has taken me a fair while to do 100. I couldn't give for a fair while because I was taking medication and stuff like that. They couldn't get it out of the blood. And then kids and work, all that sort of thing."

Beryle gives plasma every month, "I just found doing it every fortnight. I was getting so tired, plus I couldn't look after my crippled mum."

Narelle said while she is celebrating 200 donations, she started at 18 when there were only paper records, so she thinks a few donations went missing in the early years.

"I used to give whole blood and then started giving plasma. But after having children and having stops and starts with different things, I'm finally here at 200.

"Donating blood plasma does make me feel good. My aim was to get to 200 before the new year. So, I made it, I'm here."

Narelle has no set pattern to her donations; sometimes, it's every two weeks and sometimes, it's monthly, "Depending on how life is. But now I'm retired, I've got more time to come and do things a bit more."

When Richard started donating, you could only give whole blood every 12 weeks. He said if a young person started donating now, they would quickly get to 500 donations because plasma can be given every two weeks.

Helen Sager is the welcoming face you see most of the time at the Lismore Donor Centre on Bounty Street.

Helen made a short speech, "One thing that I was thinking about this morning is what a pleasure it is, what an absolute honour it is to be part of this day where someone finally reaches the halfway mark," she said to a room full of laughter.

Lifeblood spokesperson Scott Morrison said it was a Merry Christmas yesterday.

"It's like a milestone Christmas for us here at the Lismore Donor Centre. We are so excited about the fact that we've saved over 2,400 lives with these three fantastic people over the course of their donation history. It's phenomenal, isn't it? It gives me goosebumps.

"It has been so good to see, and it gives you a warm glow this time of year. It's so encouraging to see that around Christmas time, everyone's busy, things get hectic, but they still turn up, and they still want to donate. It's a special day.

"That's what it's all about, having that feeling of accomplishment where they're at now. This is a lifetime achievement. This takes decades and decades and decades. They should be celebrated."

Not only celebrated but given a free plug for this lifetime achievement.

Richard and Beryle run a delicious coffee plantation in Alstonville Three Valleys Coffee. Check it out and give it a try.

If you can spare an hour over the festive period, click here to make an appointment to donate whole blood or plasma to begin your own journey of saving lives.