Love Your Melon WIU Crew

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WIU Love Your Melon Crew [photo courtesy of WIU Communication Graduate Student Karissa Kouchis]
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Love Your Melon WIU Crew

April 4, 2017

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[Video by University Relations Student Content Producer Ryan Garity]

MACOMB, IL – What started as a class project at a Minnesota university has morphed into a student organization that is a part of campuses nationwide, including Western Illinois University.

Two friends founded Love Your Melon (LYM) in October 2012 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. The mission of the organization is improving the lives of children battling cancer, and it all began with the simple idea of putting a hat on every child battling cancer in America. After achieving the original goal of giving 45,000 hats -- one for every child battling cancer in America -- Love Your Melon set a new goal of giving $1million to pediatric cancer research and providing immediate support to children and their families. To date, nearly $2.8 million has been raised.

Western's Love Your Melon crew formed in October 2016. A group of friends came together after learning about the organization, and Western's team was born. According to WIU crew captain Maddie Stolinski, every time an LYM item – which includes hats, shirts, scarves and more – is purchased, credit points are earned for the selected university's LYM team. The more credit a crew has, the bigger the impact the university crew can make in their community. Visit lym.com and select "Western Illinois University" to help WIU's crew earn credits while also contributing to the cause.

Western's LYM crew currently has 484 credits, which Stolinski added is "amazing," as they are such a new team. Because the WIU crew has earned over 400 credits as required by the national organization, the members can begin hosting local events to benefit children in the region.

"The largest part about Love Your Melon is being able to positively impact children who are battling cancer," Stolinski added. "Recently, we have gotten to know Reid, a six-year-old boy from McDonough County, who is battling Neuroblastoma. Because our crew now has enough credits, we are planning a fundraising event in cooperation with the WIU Softball team. We want to raise awareness and bring some joy into the life of a little boy who has battled so much."

Team Reid Super Hero Event will be held April 22 during the WIU Softball game, which begins at noon at Mary Ellen McKee Stadium on the Macomb campus. Additional information will be released at a later date.

Other events include:

April 14: Benefit for Reid, 4 p.m.-midnight, Diamond Dave's.

April 19: WIU Intercollegiate Athletics' Shaymus Relays, 6 p.m., Hanson Field

For more information about the WIU LYM crew, email MS-Stolinski@wiu.edu or visit https://www.facebook.com/WIULYMCrew.