Blossom Hill is thrilled to announce our 2024 Class of Fellows! This year, four new Fellows are joining our Fellowship program with innovative initiatives to make breakthroughs for refugee children affected by conflict and war. These initiatives will put refugee children and youth on the path to success and a better future.
2024 Fellows
BH Fellow 2024
Max Kessler (Syria)
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Max Kessler spent many nights camping and backpacking, where the only shelter was a tent and the only source of warmth was a sleeping bag. He came to appreciate the sleeping bag as a reliable tool for staying warm in cold conditions. As an undergraduate at MIT, Max became aware of the challenge for millions of displaced people in the Middle East to meet the basic need of staying warm during the winter. With the idea that a sleeping bag could be a solution, Max and a few peers started TravlerPack. They worked with refugees and non-profit organizations to co-develop a unique sleeping bag, featuring secure pockets, a bug net, and a pillow pouch. Seven years later, TravlerPack has distributed over 8,750 sleeping bags in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. As a Blossom-Hill fellow, Max and his team member Tooba Shahid will pilot a new model of making the sleeping bags: sewing them in the same place they are distributed. They hope to not only continue the longstanding impact of keeping children and the most vulnerable populations warm but also empower many locals through sewing skills and a stable income so that they can better care for themselves and their children.
BH Fellow 2024
Tooba Shahid (Syria)
Growing up in Pakistan, Tooba saw first-hand how civil unrest and regional instability displaced millions of people each year. The plight of displaced refugees motivated her to get involved in bringing innovative solutions to the humanitarian aid world. As a part of MIT D-lab, Tooba designed and taught educational modules for a vocational training center in Athens for displaced unaccompanied minors. The experience of working with these displaced children was an eye-opening experience that furthered her commitment to work in this space and eventually led to her co-founding TravlerPack with some of her peers at MIT. This non-profit designs, manufactures and distributes specialized sleeping bags that can keep warm in temperatures as low as -10C and that have unique features that meet the specific needs of refugees and IDPs. As Blossom-Hill fellow, Tooba and her team member Max Kessler will pilot a new model of operations: making the sleeping bags in the same place they are distributed, boosting local economies by employing displaced female breadwinners to sew bags and continuing the longstanding impact of keeping children and the most vulnerable populations warm.
BH Fellow 2024
Brittany Pummell (Greece)
Upon graduating with a degree in Disaster Management in 2016, Brittany moved to Greece and began volunteering with grassroots organisations responding to the arrival of asylum seekers. Observing that trauma and stagnation experienced in the asylum process results in poor mental and physical health, in 2018 Brittany created a sustainable program that encourages refugee camp residents to utilise their own skills and passions to lead sports activities for their own community. She also places an emphasis on providing respite from oppressive camp conditions by facilitating activities outside of the camp setting, and established the first and only watersports school for refugees in Greece. With ever increasing hostile conditions inside refugee camps, Blossom Hill is supporting Brittany to establish an independent community center that will provide a holistic range of services to two remote refugee camp populations.
