Image courtesy of Haley Abbott
By: Brenna Oricoli
Love Your Melon, commonly referred to as LYM, is an organization that sells beanies, hats and apparel. For every product purchased through Love Your Melon, a beanie is donated to a child with cancer.
Brianna Layton and Haley Abbott founded Quinnipiac University’s own Love Your Melon crew in March of 2015. Brianna’s sister inspired the girls after she became a crewmember at her school, Providence College.
Two sophomores at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota originally founded the organization. Love Your Melon now has over 500 schools representing, advertising and selling their products. The organization has over 7,500 plus college students as volunteers. LYM has distributed 45,000 hats and counting to children battling cancer.
“I think the goal of Love Your Melon is really simple, to share happiness and smiles with children that are fighting cancer” says QU crew-member Kirby Paulson. “The method of doing so is found through the use of apparel sales, but what those sales allow for in events and beanie distribution to the children is priceless.”
Since March 2015, the Quinnipiac crew has sold over 600 LYM products. The sales of the organization are done through social media and word of mouth. Paulson had already bought a hat from LYM before coming to QU, in 2013.
“We only reached about 70 sales until our full crew was selected in September” says Abbott. “Since then, our sales have increased so much in such a short time and we could not be more grateful to our crew who has spread the mission of Love Your Melon above and beyond our expectations.”
The Quinnipiac LYM crew is officially able to host two events. The so-called “superhero” events consist of crews visiting children with cancer in their homes, hospitals and Ronald McDonald houses to gift them with their hat. They dress up as superheroes to make it a fun experience for the child. The QU crew is currently searching for children in the area to give hats to.
“Bringing that direct comfort to young patients and their families with a hat to cover their heads was something I found very special and differentiates LYM from other organizations that help cancer patients” says sophomore member, Tatyana Youssef. “Now that it’s become something I’m extremely passionate about, I find myself telling people about it everywhere I go.”
The process of joining the QU crew was based on who showed the most interest in the organization and who proved they would bring new ideas to the team. In fact, there is a waiting list to join the crew and a volunteer list of over twenty-five students.
“We kept in mind varying grades and school involvement,” says Abbott. “These two factors have helped us reach out to all students at the University, not just a certain grade or social group.”
Crew meetings are used as time to update on new purchases and find new ways to spread the word about the organization. The crew bonds by using a positive and relaxed atmosphere to work.
“We bounce ideas back and forth and we seem to feed off the creativity of others when an idea we really like comes up” says Youssef.
If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer, contact Haley Abott or Brianna Layton.
You can also follow the crew on Instagram, Twitter, and like their page on Facebook.
