A former student who passed away in the fall is being honored by his social club through an organ donor drive in the Campus Center.
During the past week, the men of Galaxy have been in the Campus Center helping students and faculty sign up to be organ donors to raise awareness and honor Landon Powell, a former student and member of Galaxy.
“We tell people our goal isn’t just to sign up as many people as possible,” said Colton Powell, Landon’s cousin. “Our goal is to sign up at least one person that will be able to make a difference with their organs. We don’t know who it’s going to be or, right now, if that’s being accomplished. But our goal is just to be able to save lives and raise awareness. We aren’t really going for a particular number.”
The process to sign up to be an organ donor is simple and takes about five minutes. Galaxy is using organdonor.gov, which directs applicants to donatelifetexas.org. The website asks for information such as legal name, address, contact information, social security and drivers license numbers.
Powell was a biochemistry major from San Antonio, and earned a 4.0 GPA during his freshman year at ACU, say family members. Friends and family remember Powell for his positivity, intelligence and heart for helping others
“His biggest passion was helping other people, and I think that’s really cool,” Colton Powell said. “Even when he lost his battle to mental illness, I think it’s really fitting that he was able to help other people by donating his organs and saving four lives.”
Blake Harpold, a senior information systems major from Fredericksburg and member of Galaxy, said he wants to extend the community that surrounded Landon to other students that may be struggling.
“When he had his kind of final meltdown and was struggling, within minutes there were 30 guys from Galaxy all at the house there praying for him,” Harpold said. “There were tons and tons of people just praying for him for hours. So, to me that’s really cool, just showing what he meant to all of us, what he meant to the people around him even through his mental illness and through his struggles.”
Family members, including his parents and sister, all alumni, participated in a Chapel service last week in honor of Powell.
