Love Your Melon is an apparel brand that started in 2012 with the goal of putting a beanie on every child battling cancer in America. It donates half of all profits to support cancer research and charitable efforts through numerous nonprofit partners. To date, they have given over $6,214,565 and donated over 173,582 beanies!
Love Your Melon started the Campus Crew program in 2015 to get college students involved and to maximize its impact. College of Charleston started its Campus Crew back in January 2015 and has really made an impact in the Charleston area!
The crew has visited the Children’s Hospital at MUSC over 10 times since starting, and got to bring all the kids getting treatment beanies for them to wear! They have also hosted several swab drives to add potential donors to the bone marrow registry. A swab drive simply entails potential donors to take a cue tip and swab their own cheeks, which is then set off to see if the potential donor is eligible to be added to the registry! The crew has also visited the Ronald McDonald House almost every year to make dinner for the families staying there while their child gets treatment.
The crew is currently planning to table with the Head the Cure 5k in February to raise awareness for brain cancer, and they are also planning more swab drives and RMH dinners!
For anyone interested in joining the crew, reach out to Lilly Fair at lillypfair@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Instagram @cofcloveyourmelon