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Women's Hockey Senior Alli Rolandelli Helps Make Impact On Childhood Cancer
10/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown women's ice hockey senior captain Alli Rolandelli (Minnetonka, Minn.) has partnered with the Love Your Melon Foundation to help improve the lives of children battling cancer, with the goal of putting a hat on every child battling cancer in America. Love Your Melon is an apparel brand run by college students across the country, called Love Your Melon Ambassadors.
Love Your Melon is a foundation that raises awareness and money for children who are battling cancer. The organization is partnered with the Pinky Swear Foundation and CureSearch. The Pinky Swear Foundation helps provide aid to families for various expenses associated with their children's treatment, while CureSearch funds research initiatives to beat childhood cancer completely.
Rolandelli started as an ambassador in May of 2015 and discovered the foundation through her home state, which is where the foundation originated, in 2012. She also chose the organization due to her personal ties, as her mother passed away from cancer last year. Alli carries on her mother's passion of working with children and hopes to help bring smiles to children's faces that are battling the disease.
Under the leadership of Rolandelli, Brown's campus crew, which includes members of the Bears' women's ice hockey, men's ice hockey and women's basketball teams, help sell hats as ambassadors. The more hats they sell, the more events the group can hold. So far the group has sold over $3,000 in merchandise. On Thursday, Oct. 1 the group dressed up as superheroes and visited Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, to give hats to the children who are receiving treatment.
"We're all sitting in this room dressed up as superheroes and you see these kids walk in and their faces just light up," said Rolandelli. "They were so excited and their smiles were huge. It's so nice for just the few hours we are there to just distract them."
"My whole goal is at the end of the day to have the kids go to sleep and think wow, I wonder what that superhero is doing, " said Rolandelli. "That superhero actually made a difference in my day. As long as you can bring a smile to one kid that is pretty impactful."
Anyone looking to support Alli and her ambassador team can find all products on loveyourmenlon.com. When checking out, you can credit a university, and by selecting Brown you can help Alli's group.
The Love Your Melon Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that funds childhood cancer research initiatives, provides immediate support for children and their families, and donates a hat to every child battling cancer in America.
To date, more than 2,500 college students at over 225 different schools nationally have signed on as ambassadors to sell and donate hats.
