Two Thursdays ago you may have been asked if “you love your melon” around the Erb Memorial Union. What happened after that was up to you, but the result of that single question nearly two weeks ago was that 142 hats were donated to kids with cancer.
The Love Your Melon Foundation donates a hat to a child in need for every hat sold. It all began at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota as an assignment to create a business. One of the founders, Brian Keller, is friends with Katie Gruys, a sophomore forward on the Oregon women’s basketball team and a Maple Lake, Minnesota native.
When Gruys heard that Love Your Melon was going on a West Coast tour, she jumped on the opportunity to have them stop by Eugene. A week before Gruys called Keller and told them they should stop by Eugene, he then asked her if she thought an event could be put together.
“Yeah, we could do it,” Gruys said. “I just thought it was a good opportunity for student-athletes to host this event.”
In the following days she showed the O Heroes organization videos of Love Your Melon and what they do. They were immediately on board. But she didn’t want to limit this event to just student-athletes. To get students more involved, Gruys and O Heroes teamed up with the Pit Crew.
“They helped a lot with getting the word out,” Gruys said. “They had their own people show up and support any way they could.”
Former wide receiver for the Oregon football team Eric Dungy was one of the many students to help the cause.
“I’m kind of a shy person so it was hard to ask people on campus if they had a second to look at the product,” Dungy said. “I felt like I gave them a little help.”
Dungy didn’t only help during the event, but he also helped spread the word via Twitter. In addition, he convinced his father and former NFL coach Tony Dungy to spread the word.
For Dungy, it was just him wanting to give back to the community.
“As a kid growing up you have people who give back to you,” Dungy said. “When you have the same chance, it’s only right to for children growing up.”
The event also had a competitive side of it, which only helped the cause. As Love Your Melon was prepared to enter Eugene they had just stopped by the University of Washington where they sold 112 hats. During the event outside of the EMU there was a sign that read: “Can the Ducks beat ‘em?”
Well, the Ducks did and surpassed the previous record of 140, by selling 142.
“I think Katie did a great job getting it done,” Dungy said.
Gruys hopes to become a team member this summer and go to some events or hospitals to “make a wish come true.” Even though this started as a class project, Gruys doesn’t expect Love Your Melon to go away any time soon.
“I think this could blow up,” Gruys said. “I really do.”
Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @abant3