Love Your Melon is sweeping college campuses across the country, so I sat down with Claudia Rodriguez and Alejandra Nagel of Love your Melon LMU, one of the newest on- campus organizations, to find out more about what they do.
First and foremost, for those who don’t know, what is Love Your Melon?
To sum it up, Love Your Melon is a non-profit organization whose mission is to put a hat on the head of every child battling cancer in American. It is a student run organization that hopes to establish a network of college students called Love Your Melon Ambassadors who will be responsible for spreading the mission of the organization in their own city. Love Your Melon partners with two foundations; CureSearch and Pinky Swear Foundation to help research a cure for cancer as well as help provide support for the family members of those battling cancer.
How did Love Your Melon start?
Two business students in an entrepreneurship class at the University of St. Thomas started Love Your Melon. The idea became so successful that is turned into an entire organization.
What made you want to be involved with the organization?
(Alejandra): I attended the University of St. Thomas as the time while the organization was started so I was familiar with it. I eventually transferred to LMU and at the same time Love Your Melon began to grow. One of the guys who started the project reached out to me personally to see if it was possible to establish an on campus presence here at LMU. Since being at LMU I had done a bunch of service but I had not found the one cause I was passionate about until this came around. It just felt right to me.
How many people are involved at LMU?
Well, as of now we are very new so we are just getting started building awareness about the organization but there are about 20 people, with different positions including an executive board and social media team.
How does the work Love Your Melon at LMU contribute to the greater cause?
The idea is that when people buy hats through the website they credit LMU which goes towards our points. We are still figuring out the logistics, but the idea is that the point system keeps track of how many hats we sell. We are then sent hats based on that number which we can distribute to children in Los Angeles area hospitals. We just received our first box!
How can students on campus get involved?
The first step is to buy a hat! That is the easiest way to donate, but you can also donate your time. We need help from volunteers. If you are in Greek Life and need service hours this is a great excuse to get them done! We will be doing “missions” in the Los Angeles area that involve going into the hospitals and helping out with the children!
Most people associate Love Your Melon with thick winter hats, which is great in Minnesota, but what do you say to those of us in Los Angeles who must likely wont be reaching for a warm beanie anytime soon?
Love Your Melon actually now has shirts as well as baseball caps which is great for students in Los Angeles!
What is the goal for LMU Love Your Melon?
Our first goal is to get students on campus aware of the organization and our mission. The more people who know about us the more of a difference we can make. One of the reasons LMU’s branch of Love Your Melon is so important to the organization is the surrounding hospitals, which this will impact. In a city with such great research hospitals this is an easy way to get involved not only on campus but also in the larger scope of our community. We want to make sure students understand Love Your Melon is an organization with two important parts, not only the goal of raising money for cancer research but also to get people to volunteer their time to help sick children in their local communities. It exciting to be a part of an organization that is entirely student run. IT makes us feel as if we have a great hand in the success of the organization.
Be sure to check out LMU Love Your Melon on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lymlmu/) and instagram (https://www.instagram.com/lmu.lymcrew/)