By KAREN JAEN
To raise awareness about the use of seatbelts and organ donation The Always Wear Your Seatbelt club and Social Justice club joined forces in a movie event hosted at the Downtown YMCA.
After having lost two former students, Laura Grant and Edward Culberhouse, due to the lack of seatbelt use, the clubs felt it was important to host a movie event featuring The Fifth Quarter, which debuted in theaters in March.
The movie recounts the true story of the Abbate family, who are relatives of Seacord. In 2006, Maryanne and Steven Abbate lost their youngest son Luke in a car accident due to reckless driving. Luke decided to accept a ride from a friend instead of calling his parents. The friend drove over the speed limit, which made him lose control and crash off the side of the road. After spending 24 hours in the hospital, Luke was declared brain dead by the standards of Georgia law.
The clubs also wanted to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation, which is also addressed in the film. The Abbate’s faced a tough decision when the hospital introduced them to an organ donor plan, that would donate Luke’s organs to those who needed them. Although conflicted, the family decided to go ahead with the donation because Luke had checked the organ donor box on his learner’s permit license. Luke being a healthy, active teenager was able to donate five organs, one of which was his heart. As the movie portrays, his heart saved the life of a young mother with a fatal heart disease.
Luke’s older brother, Jon, played football for the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons who were ranked last in the ACC. However, Jon was deeply affected by his brother’s death; Luke became Jon’s and the entire Wake Forest football team’s inspiration for winning the ACC championship in 2006. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, fans in the stands raised the number five to honor Luke. The fourth quarter became known as the fifth quarter, which inspired the title of the film; this tradition is still alive today. The movie portrays a community united by a tragic loss, such as the one the Boone community faced in February.
At the event Phil Ziglar, head football coach team, spoke about the importance of the issues portrayed in the movie. Maryanne Abbate, Luke’s mother, also made an appearance and spoke about her appreciation for the film and praised the clubs for bringing awareness to this issue. The event ended with the attendees raising a five in honor of Luke’s memory.
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