And the chief operations officer at the University of Otago knows exactly how important blood is.
The father-of-four's daughter Darcie (6) needed ''copious amounts'' of blood as she battled the cancer she was diagnosed with at the age of 3.
So when he was looking for ways he could help after the Christchurch mosque attacks in March, he turned to blood donation.
''Everyone was shaken up by it, me included, and looking to do something.''
After reinforcing to his team that it was OK to need and seek support, he encouraged and then arranged for his team at the university to give to Team Red, a campaign by New Zealand Blood to get organisations donating as a team.
Since Easter, the 22 members of the ''Otago Uni Operations'' team have made 566 donations of blood and plasma.
The Team Red website said that amount would have saved about 1126 lives, and ranked the Otago Uni team as the number one donating team in the South Island.
Mr Willis said he could not be prouder of his staff and hoped more staff would join them.
