How Two Sophomores in College Started a Million Dollar Company

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The company began in 2012, as a class project for Brian Keller and Zachary Quinn; students at the University of St. Thomas. "At the time," Quinn explains, "we both had family impacted by cancer."

Their idea: a buy-one-give-one retail model (much like TOMS) that would allow people to support pediatric cancer patients.

Their goal: to give a beanie to every child, in America, battling cancer.

Called "Love Your Melon," the company has grown from its modest Minnesota roots and, in three years, has given away over 45,000 beanies to kids going through chemotherapy. They have generated over a million dollars for charity.

The hats (American-made) are donated in person at hospitals nationwide by Love Your Melon college ambassadors. The beanies are well-received and, as Quinn says, "just make sense...because every superhero needs a helmet."

I recently asked Quinn, President of Love Your Melon (LYM), a few questions:

First of all, congratulations on your success. How did you arrive at the idea for LYM? Why cancer specifically?

Cancer is the disease that touches our communities the most - a widespread disease with many causes that inflicts fear upon us. Love Your Melon fights cancer with love, comfort and coziness. Our beanies cover children battling cancer with love and bring them into a community of people that support them.

Brian and I started Love Your Melon because we wanted to make a difference in our communities and found that cancer was the most prevalent cause of pain and suffering. Love Your Melon is our way of fighting back against this horrible disease. It all came from the simple idea of wanting to put a hat on every child battling cancer in America. Through selling headwear and apparel, we are able to create programs that bring college kids dressed as Superheroes into children's hospitals across the country. Currently, Love Your Melon is at over 750 different schools nationally with over 9,000 college students representing the organization as Love Your Melon Crew Members.

And what are you working towards?

Our ultimate goal for Love Your Melon is to find a cure for childhood cancer and make sure that no child is left behind. We have now given over 51,000 hats to children undergoing cancer treatment and donated over 1 million dollars to cancer research and family support. There is plenty of work left to do and we are on a mission to make sure it happens.

What do you know for sure?

Details matter.

Check out LYM on social media (Instagram; Twitter), and visit their website for more. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.












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