Zachary Quinn was a college student at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul Minnesota. He was majoring in marketing and was interested in entrepreneurship and becoming an entrepreneur. He became so invested in his entrepreneurship classes, he actually started a non-profit organization, brought his friend Brian along with the idea, and then dropped out of college to run it.
What is Love Your Melon?
Love your melon is a non-profit organization. It was started up on October 22nd 2012 and has been helping children and families since. The organization sells apparel such as hats, shirts, beanies, jewelry and more while the proceeds go to child cancer research. Love Your Melon is dedicated to giving a hat to every child battling cancer in America and supporting other non-profits who lead the fight against pediatric cancer.
How Do They Accomplish Their Mission?
The volunteers of Love Your Melon are college students who volunteer go and raise awareness and go to the hospitals to try and improve the lives of kids battling cancer. The beanies they create for everyone, once purchased, 50% of the proceeds go to their other non-profit partners. The college students also take the kids out for a day of adventure whether that’s a helicopter ride or fun activities as a therapeutic process.
Who Are Their Non-Profit Partners?
A few of their non-profit partners are… St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Make A Wish, Pinky Swear Foundation, and more. Once their partners recieve the proceeds made off of the apparel from Love Your Melon, they use the proceeds to purchase new technologies, help struggling families, and more.
How to Get Involved?
Want to get involved in Love Your Melon? Here are a few steps how…
#1 Be a College Student!
This first step is pretty simple, you need to be a college student to register because the organization occurs within the college you attend.
#2 You Need a Crew!
To complete your application your going to need a team of at least 10 or more members who want to contribute to the organization and are okay with taking the kids on adventures.
#3 Picking Your Team Name & Application Process
First of all, your team name needs to be based off of the college you attend and needs to be catchy! Once you have that you can begin the application process. The program is super competitive and only chooses a select amount of groups from colleges every year. So if you’re not chosen your first year, you’re certainly welcome to try again the next year.
Love Your Melon and Me
As someone who is going off to college soon, this organization has made me consider wanting to apply and help out and raise awareness. No, I’m not going to drop to of college to volunteer, but I do hope once I get to college I’ll be able to assemble a team and join the other millions of college students across the U.S. who help children with pediatric cancer whether thats going and speaking to other schools to raise awareness or taking the kids out on a day of adventure. Cancer at a young age is something that hits home with me. When I was 15 years old, one of my closest friends, Cooper O’Brein, passed away at 14 due to cancer and so by making my own team at my college I hope to share his story as well.
Other Ways to Raise Awareness for Pediatric Cancer
- Donate
- Fundraise
- Volunteer
- Spread Love and Good Vibes
(For those who don’t know this is a blog article for my advanced composition class! But I do hope you enjoy reading it and learning something about this awesome organization and hopefully choose to help out! Thanks! Don’t forget to like and subscribe!)