By Diana Hofmann
Staff Reporter
Love Your Melon, also known as LYM, has become an official club on campus where its mission is to improve the lives of children battling pediatric cancer.
Love Your Melon is an apparel brand dedicated to giving a hat to every child battling cancer in America, as well as supporting non-profit organizations who lead the fight against pediatric cancer.
LYM has had a crew on campus since 2015, which was started by a former student, Stephanie Roth. LYM organizations were only allowed to recognize 20 students as being crew members in which they attend hospitals and complete household visits. The crew’s goal was to become a well known club on campus.
This year, with LYM becoming an official club at Sacred Heart University, there can be as many members as possible and the club can hold campus wide events.
“Being recognized as a club on campus this year allows us the opportunity to have further outreach to the student body and hold events. Our goal is to really have our campus know what Love Your Melon stands for and all that we do to help put a smile on pediatric cancer patients’ faces,” said senior Noelle Kelly.
Every year there are applications to become a part of the organization. Participating in the club will help anyone interested in becoming a crew member.
“It’s so inspiring to see the kids smiling and laughing. It is incredible to be able to make a difference working together with all the crews. The possibilities to join the fight are endless,” said junior Brenna DeStefano, Love Your Melon’s public relations manager.
LYM was founded in 2012 by two college students at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. From there, the mission has been spread from coast to coast. More than 11,000 students at 740 different colleges and universities have joined the story. The organization has the capability of connecting and empowering so many.
The first challenge Love Your Melon participated in was on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and it was a countrywide challenge to take a selfie with as many students on campus as possible to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. The Sacred Heart crew rounded up 83 students on the quad by the library from Greek life, sports teams and students studying for midterms in the library to take a selfie.
This challenge was a huge success for the club. It spread the word about their mission to fight pediatric cancer to students who may have never heard of LYM. Stations around campus were also set up to encourage students to write cards out to kids with cancer.
“I’m glad I had the opportunity to help spread the fight to end pediatric cancer. Love Your Melon gives us the opportunity to put a smile on the faces of children who are struggling through so much,” said junior Katie Tsukamoto, Love Your Melon’s president.
To purchase LYM products and apparel you can go onto loveyourmelon.com. By selecting “Sacred Heart University” at checkout, every product that you purchase will help Sacred Heart receive a credit. As the credits add up, Sacred Heart’s LYM club will be able to do different activities such as hospital visits or household visits to children with cancer.
Anyone interested in the LYM club can participate at any time by attending club meetings. Meetings are held every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in HC 223. For any further questions, contact Tsukamoto at tsukamoto@sacredheart.edu or LYM Secretary, Emily Hoffer at hoffere@sacredheart.edu.
