Fighting cancer, one beanie at a time

Love Your Melon public relations representative, Webster University sophomore Lauren Schertz, said she and other students want to make an impact in the lives of those battling cancer.

Love Your Melon is an apparel brand run by college students across the country which works to give hats to children battling cancer.

The organization currently sells beanies, shirts and mugs. Fifty percent of the proceeds go to fund cancer research and to the Pinky Swear Foundation.

The foundation looks to ease the financial and emotional impacts of childhood cancer.

For every hat they sell, Love Your Melon donates one beanie to a child battling cancer.

The organization has now grown to over 600 ‘campus crews,’ the group of students that represent Love Your Melon, one of which is now at Webster University. The crew is headed by organization president, freshman Madison Watts.

Watts partnered up with Schertz, Vice President Megan Roedner and Secretary Emmi Murphy to get the club approved through Webster.

All four women, along with some of the crew, are members of the Delta Phi Epsilon philanthropic campus sorority, but said it is not directly associated with the sorority. Schertz said all students are welcomed.

“We want to branch out and share it with other people on campus,” Schertz said. “We are not being exclusive whatsoever. We want people to get involved and feel like they can make a difference.”

There are currently 24 members in the Webster Love Your Melon organization. After Watts, Roedner, Murphy and Schertz, Love Your Melon recognizes the first 20 people that signed up as crew members. Everyone after is considered a volunteer.

Watts says they are still looking to grow. Currently, efforts have been made through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Facebook page has already received 106 likes in less than a month.

They hope to partner with other organizations and hold events on campus to continue spreading the word and help create more involvement.

The ultimate goal

Love Your Melon works on a credit system. One credit is given to the organization for every piece of apparel sold. When the crew receives a certain number of credits, they are able to participate in activities. Low-credit activities include a house visit where the crew goes to the home of a local child with cancer and spends the day with them. Higher-credit activities include a visit to St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Watts and Murphy say the hospital visit is their ultimate goal while they are at Webster.

“By our junior year, we would like to see our crew get to the stage where we can do a hospital visit donation event,” Watts said. “We would love to just see it grow and continue to make an impact on the Webster Groves area.”

The hospital visit requires 3,000 credits. Schertz put the required credits in perspective, saying that the number of undergraduates who attend Webster is about the same as the number of credit needed.

To aid in the process of obtaining that goal, Love Your Melon Webster is also looking to increase their sales off campus. They plan to host events in the future open to the entire St. Louis community, not just Webster students.

“We want to get the community involved in this effort,” Murphy said.

Currently, Love Your Melon Webster cannot hold events on campus to sell apparel. Because the organization is so new, they need to show support by number of sales, first. When enough sales are made online, they will be able to sell products on campus.

To support the Love Your Melon campaign, visit their website www.loveyourmelon.com and in your cart specify that you bought your item(s) through Love Your Melon Webster and they will receive the credits.

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