More than 45,000 children undergoing cancer treatment will now have the chance to cover their heads with a Love Your Melon hat. The non-profit organization, which started in a St. Thomas entrepreneurship class, announced on April 7 that it has sold enough hats to donate one to every child with cancer in America.
Allison Vatne, a St. Thomas Love Your Melon ambassador, said the whole company, including founders and former St. Thomas students Zachary Quinn and Brian Keller, is proud of the accomplishment.
“To meet the mission and meet the goals that you started with, I personally believe it’s huge, and I know Love Your Melon as a whole is beyond excited,” Vatne said.
Junior John-Paul Dees, who has purchased a hat from Love Your Melon, said it’s encouraging to see the company reach its goal.
“To have that actually come to light, it’s interesting and rewarding to see how just a St. Thomas company or startup can turn into something so big that they can give back,” Dees said.
In celebration of the company’s achievement and as a way of furthering its mission, Love Your Melon entered into two new partnerships with Pinky Swear Foundation, which provides support for children with cancer, and CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, which helps fund research for a cure.
Vatne said this new enterprise allows the company to take its mission one step further.
“Targeting these two foundations gives them that opportunity to continue its original mission – making children’s lives easier that are undergoing cancer treatment – but then also making the effort to find a cure as well,” Vatne said.
Love Your Melon kicked off the new partnerships by donating $50,000 to each organization.
In addition to new relationships, Love Your Melon has implemented a new sales model. Instead of donating a hat for every one sold, the company will now give 50 percent of its proceeds to its new partners. Vatne said the company hopes to raise $1 million to donate to the two companies by the end of 2015.
While Dees agrees with the new sales model, he said he would still like to see the former buy-one-give-one model continue.
“I’d like to see them consider the old model as well because there will be constantly children entering treatment,” he said.
As the company moves forward, Vatne said it will continue its mission to make a difference.
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is making the lives of children with cancer easier,” she said.
Sophomore Darcy Dean said Love Your Melon’s new partnerships will encourage even more people to get involved with the company.
“To go even more above and beyond, it’s even more of a cause, more of a reason to get involved and purchase a hat,” Dean said.
Rebecca Mariscal can be reached at mari2162@stthomas.edu.
Is Love Your Melon a company or a (certified 501(c)3) nonprofit? This story refers to it as both.
To me, it sounds like the organization would do well as a social venture for profit (Like Toms, which it’s clearly modeled after). There’s nothing wrong with having more socially-minded companies around, and the mission-driven sector is tending that way these days through new social innovations and various forms of capital. It seems Love Your Melon understands the power of collaborative impact through their new partnerships, and has clear grasp of alternative financing models.