The St. Paul Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt has a new sponsor this year: Love Your Melon, an apparel company that gives hats to children battling cancer and 50 percent of its profits to nonprofits in the fight against pediatric cancer.
Love Your Melon started in 2012 as a class project by two University of St. Thomas students, Zachary Quinn and Brian Keller.
In an email interview, Quinn talked about the Treasure Hunt and his company’s dedication to giving.
Q. Did you ever do the Treasure Hunt yourself or know anyone who did?
A. I grew up hearing about the Treasure Hunt as a kid living with my parents in Afton. We went to the Winter Carnival events and explored around St. Paul with my mom all the time. I remember hearing about the medallion being found each year and that would set my imagination off as to where it could be. I loved the idea of a treasure hunt, so my uncle Jack would leave messages and treasure maps in bottles on the beach we grew up on, on the St. Croix River, for me to find. It tied into this story of a pirate ship that went up and down the river in the summer.
Q. Why do you feel like this is a good sponsorship fit for Love Your Melon?
A. The medallion treasure hunt is an idea that inspires imagination and takes you back to your childhood dreams. People love treasure hunts and winning challenges. This sponsorship is a perfect fit for our brand as Love Your Melon preserves the dreams of kids by creating smiles through beanie donations and funding programs and research that improve the lives of children battling cancer. As we grow up and face new adventures being adults, fun experiences like the medallion hunt can bring us back to what it feels like to be a kid.
Q. There are more Love Your Melon donations in connection with Treasure Hunt. Can you tell us about that?
A. Love Your Melon is adding a prize to the hunt in 2020 — a year’s worth of Love Your Melon products. To qualify, when the real medallion is found, the winner must take a picture with it while wearing a Love Your Melon beanie. We release new products nearly every week of the year on Thursdays. The prize of a year’s worth of products will consist of 52 Love Your Melon products from our weekly releases in 2020, a $2,500 retail value.
Q. Donations are a big part of your mission. How much has Love Your Melon donated to date?
A. This year, we are giving $1,001,674 to the fight against pediatric cancer. This will bring our total given to over $7.18 million and 191,425 beanies.
Copyright 2020 Pioneer Press.
