Love Your Melon and Wayne State Rugby teamed up last Saturday at the rugby tournament to honor the family of Maddy Spellman, a 12-year-old girl who passed away from osteosarcoma two weeks ago. Love Your Melon is a nationwide organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for childhood cancer.

The members of Love Your Melon and the rugby team stood in the middle of the field with a sign that read “Go Gold for Maddy Spellman!” while giving out cups of lemonade in exchange for a free-will donation. They were able to raise $185.50 to give to Cure Search, an organization partnered with Love Your Melon an organization, dedicated to developing a cure for childhood cancer.

“Our main goal was to raise awareness,” the WSC chapter president of Love Your Melon, Kelsi Anderson, said. “With 18 colleges at the tournament, we hope someone was inspired to look into the organization and possibly bring it back to their campus.”

Aside from on campus fund raisers such as the lemonade sales, products can be purchased through the Wayne State chapter from loveyourmelon.com, with 50 percent of proceeds going to cancer research or directly to the families Love Your Melon works with.

The idea of having Love Your Melon and rugby partnering came from Brett Quick, a Love Your Melon member and rugby player who was a family friend of Spellman. When he brought it up, both Anderson and Jason Ramsey, the president of rugby, were immediately on board.

“I felt like the entire team came together and really bonded over this event,” Ramsey said. “I think for both the team and Love Your Melon, we just wanted to raise awareness for childhood cancer and maybe have a little bit of money raised to help with research. I would love to do more events with them in the future.”

The Wayne State chapter of Love Your Melon started at the end of the 2016 spring semester and resumed meeting last week. Meetings are held Mondays at 5 p.m. in the Goldenrod Room of the Student Center.

Love Your Melon members hope to draw more attention with more events in the works for the end of September, which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and continue to spread their message to the students and staff.

“Children going through chemotherapy and radiation receive the same treatment as adults, but only 4 percent of their funding comes from the government,” Anderson said. “We know the facts, but others don’t and we want them to know. That’s why we started in Wayne and why we push for a larger presence on campus.”