Nathalia’s tree inside of TENSPACE with several of the 30,000 beanies hanging from it. Credit: Sheron Colbert | Lantern reporter
TENSPACE, a revolving business that hosts online brands for two-month activation periods and located at 930 N. High St., is hosting Love Your Melon until Dec. 23, with proceeds from beanie purchases going toward pediatric cancer research.
Love Your Melon began as a project founded at the University of St. Thomas by two students — Zachary Quinn and Brian Keller — in an entrepreneurship class, according to its website. Its goal was to improve the lives of those affected by childhood cancer by giving a hat to every child battling the disease in the U.S.
Stacy Glenn, a manager of TENSPACE, said Love Your Melon’s focus on pediatric cancer makes it unique compared to other brands they’ve hosted in the past.
“I think there’s a lot of information out there that people don’t know or realize,” Glenn said. “I was really touched by their story. Even how they started out, and telling people about it is the best part.”
Glenn said the personal connection many have with cancer is another reason Love Your Melon spoke to TENSPACE and its customers.
“Someone came in here and told me that when their cousin had cancer, a whole team of people came over to drop off a beanie, so they really care about what’s going on in that pediatric cancer research area,” Glenn said.
Love Your Melon’s beanie sales will aid pediatric cancer research as 50% of the net profit will go to a variety of nonprofits and hospitals — such as Boston Children’s Hospital, American Cancer Society and the Children’s Cancer Research Fund — according to its website.
“So, when you buy a beanie, 50 percent of the net profit goes to pediatric cancer research,” Glenn said.
Glenn said some beanies are ready-made and others can be custom-made.
“You could get the ready made where you could get adults, kids, babies or you can get OSU of course,” Glenn said “You could do it a cuff beanie, a regular beanie, a cuff beanie with a pom or a double pom.”
Glenn said with a variety of options and a heartfelt response from the community, the beanie-creation process is going better than she expected.
“I never thought building a beanie would be that meaningful,” Glenn said. “To watch people come in and be so thoughtful about the process — I had a young lady come in. She lost her younger cousin, nine years old, and she said he loved Halloween, so she wanted a beanie with Halloween colors to represent him.”
A tree inside of TENSPACE where several small beanies hang has a special meaning and has caught the attention of passersby, Glenn said.
The beanies also have a special meaning because of their impact on Nathalia Hawley — a young cancer patient with Osteosarcoma who passed away four years ago. Hawley drew fashion sketches and made mini yarn beanies for the Love Your Melon team, according to its website.
“The beanies, the tree from outside — it’s a beautiful story around the beanies,” Glenn said. “When people walk in, they’re truly touched. They wanna take pictures in the doorway. They don’t even wanna walk all the way in. They’re like, ‘Is it okay if I get a picture?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, get a picture. But I want you to come in, I want you to hear the story about Nathalia.’”
Although the tree is artificial, Rachel Friedman, CEO of Tenfold — a design firm that launched TENSPACE in 2021 — said each beanie that hangs from it was handmade for Hawley by the Love Your Melon community due to her contributions to the cause.
“All over the world, people sent beanies for Nat with notes of encouragement to her, and they received over 30,000 beanies,” Friedman said.
Friedman said Hawley’s legacy and wishes are being honored with the tree full of beanies.
“One of Nathalia’s wishes, before she passed, was to be cremated and become a tree, and when her mother and her sister saw our installation, their first comment was ‘Nathalia got her wish,’” Friedman said.
