CUA Love Your Melon Club

By Christopher Vitale

Catholic University provides numerous opportunities for students to get involved with outreach to those in need, and a brand new opportunity will hopefully be making its way to the Catholic community in the form of the CUA Love Your Melon Club. Camila Muñoz-Velásquez, a sophomore at Catholic and the key individual behind bringing this club to campus, provided information regarding the nature, history, and role of the club which will function to serve children battling cancer in the DC area and which will hopefully be running by next semester.

This new student organization will be operated under the Love Your Melon (LYM) Company which was founded in 2012 by Zachary Quinn and Brian Keller at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Muñoz-Velásquez stated that its original mission was to provide a beanie to every child in the United States fighting pediatric cancer with 50% of the proceeds of the hats going towards cancer research and funding. Upon achieving this goal, the organization set a new mission of establishing clubs on college campuses, such as the one in formation at CUA, to aid in spreading awareness about pediatric cancer. Muñoz-Velásquez laid out the role that CUA students will play in this form of outreach.

“We’d be going to visit the kids and just be keeping them company when their parents aren’t there—or even when their parents are there—and just playing games with them. It’s something to keep their minds active, to let them feel cared for, and to have a support system,” Muñoz-Velásquez said.

Contrary to the operations of LYM, the club will not be involved with the selling or distribution of hats. Additionally, the group will not accept any form of funding to run the club either from Catholic University or from any outside donors.

“The money comes from LYM,” Muñoz-Velásquez explained, “but they’re not just gushing us with money, we have to earn it.”

In order to receive funding from the parent company, the club will have to reach goals and benchmarks, and pursue community service opportunities laid out by the company. These will include hosting on-campus events where the children can visit CUA and enjoy activities in an effort to relieve them from the hospital setting that so many of them are sadly accustomed to.

In terms of club operation, CUA Love Your Melon Club will host meetings biweekly, and Muñoz-Velásquez stressed the importance that the members are very dedicated and will do their best to attend all of the meetings.

“It’s a high-commitment club because these children need commitment. They can’t have people coming in and out and not have any stability in their lives—they need that,” said Muñoz-Velásquez.

Muñoz-Velásquez has also circulated Google documents upon which students who are interested may list their names and email addresses. These documents are available on the Class of 2021 and Class of 2022 Facebook pages.

Although the club won’t be in action until next semester, Muñoz-Velásquez stated that representatives will begin tabling in the Pryz this semester to spread information and encourage students to get involved. She also hopes that she will be able to set up an information table in the Pryz Great Rooms during Odyssey Day on April 12. She plans by then to have a secure Leadership Crew and a group of dedicated members (minimum ten and maximum thirty) to support the budding student organization.

“My plan is to give people a way to really see and experience the kids and to know that they really do need help,” said Muñoz-Velásquez. “These kids need hope.”