By Deepika Katta, a blog writer at GetUsPPE.org.
Love Your Melon (LYM), a mission-driven apparel brand, was founded in an entrepreneurship class at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Zachary and Brian started this organization to promote positive social impact and “improve the lives of children battling cancer.” Its initial goal was to donate 45,000 hats, and to date, it has donated over 200,000 hats to children battling cancer and $7.2 million to the fight against pediatric cancer. It also established a goal of giving one million dollars to pediatric cancer research.
Moreover, this mission-driven company generously gives fifty percent of net profits to non-profit organizations fighting against pediatric cancer. It has also recently announced that it had sent over 150,000 face masks to frontline workers and hospitals in every state in the U.S.
GetUsPPE, a nonprofit founded by ER doctors, is sourcing, purchasing, and delivering Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline workers. Recently, Love Your Melon partnered with GetUsPPE to donate masks and announced that “For each beanie sold, $25 will be donated to GetUsPPE.” LYM’s mask donations to GetUsPPE have been successfully delivered to California, Colorado, Georgia, and New York, among other states.
Here at GetUsPPE, we would like to give our sincere thanks to Love Your Melon. The following are some of the thank you notes from recipients across the nation:
“We were very grateful to receive those 1,000 masks from Love Your Melon a few weeks ago. Here’s a lovely photo that Nathalie took of me and my colleague Paula! She’s one of our amazing PPE Champions.” – Lucy F., Christian Living Communities, Englewood, CO
“I want to thank you and your team for everything that has been done for us. You all will never know just how thankful that we are. Love Your Melon makes some great masks any our staff just love them.” – David B., Environmental Director, Rehabilitation Center of South Georgia, Tilton, GA
“We appreciate Love Your Melon for supporting our program aimed at helping New York City’s homeless population in shelters and on the streets get the necessary protective gear. Here are 6,000 masks that were donated to the Bronx Family Network.” – Zoha K., Deputy Director, Rise of Broken Women, New York, NY
“Thank you for reaching out to us, we continue working very hard to get the needed equipment to our Home Care Workers in the frontlines. Note that we at RiseBoro are equally as thankful to GetUsPPE and all their partners for their generous donations and their dedication to this cause. We can only hope to continue being the recipients of such generosity from such wonderful individuals. Be safe and be well.”- Florencio A., Riseboro HomeCare Inc, Brooklyn, NY
“Thank you very much for your facial mask donation. I ordered masks from different sources since March 2020 , but I was not able to get anything. I appreciate your help very much . We wear your masks and we can give masks to patients who need masks when they come to our office. I just couldn’t figure out who to thank. Thank you for reaching out to me. It felt like Christmas. Thank you for thinking about everybody who needs protection and hope in this difficult Coronavirus time. I think you saved several lives providing your masks and you will continue to save lives. Thank you!” – Dr. Alicja R., MD IMPULS Internal Medicine, Wilmington, NC
