It’s harder nowadays to find people whose true passion is to help people, but for sophomore CJ Hassmann, it’s a hobby and a future career.

The future med student’s first experience with a major organization was with Donate Life, a transplant organization that saved his dad’s life.

“It’s a big part of my life and without these people and without the fundraising, who knows, my dad might not be alive,” CJ said. “They are spreading awareness that people need to be organ donors.”

His dad has always been an influential part of his life and CJ wants to give back as much as he can because of how Donate Life has touched his life indirectly.

His first real experience helping people was in high school with a group, that he started, called GOMAD, which stands for Go Out and Make A Difference.

GOMAD consisted of all different kinds of clubs that collaborated and pulled from everyone’s resources to create a more favorable outcome.

CJ almost went on a missions trip to Haiti, however 20 days before he was supposed to leave, the earthquake happened.

“I went to my English teacher and I was like, ‘I wanna do something, I want to make a difference,’” he said. “And I didn’t know what to do, so she helped me figure out this idea, so that’s kind of how that all started.”

What he started was a walk-a-thon.

The walk-a-thon sold t-shirts and got donations from the different participating teams. GOMAD raised about $6,000 for the American Red Cross and Haiti.

They also did a “pink out” for breast cancer and raised around $3,000.

Now CJ is a Biochemistry major, with the hopes of getting into medical school in the next few years, but he hasn’t stopped fundraising.

He is currently the Grand Treasurer for a fraternity on campus, Kappa Sigma.

Some of his responsibilities include philanthropy and fundraising for the fraternity.

The fraternity’s philanthropy is The Fisher House which helps create homes on military bases for families to stay in when their loved one is hospitalized.

CJ also wants to go back to his roots and help out Donate Life, the organization that helped keep his father in his life.