Princeton students “Blossom Together”: A student club takes on global humanitarian efforts

At Princeton, a fundraiser might look like a ping-pong tournament, pumpkin carving during the fall, or a table at a campus performance. For student-led group Blossom Together, a bracelet-making fundraiser led to the bracelets leaving the Orange Bubble and traveling across the Atlantic to children in Benin. 

Blossom Together is a humanitarian organization focused on expanding access to clean water, healthcare, school supplies, and food security to people in East and West Africa. The organization works with local nonprofits and community leaders to determine the projects and resources communities need. Founded in 2017 by a group of high school friends, Blossom Together has since expanded to more than 20 university chapters across the United States and raised more than $300,000. Princeton’s chapter was established in 2025.

Hilal Akman ’27, president of the Princeton chapter, said that a friend involved with Blossom Together at the University of Scranton inspired her to establish the organization. Akman, whose passion for service has led her to trips around the globe, saw this as an opportunity to bring together students with different academic and personal interests around a common purpose.

Blossom Together hosts student-led fundraising initiatives including bracelet-making events, painting workshops, and bingo events. They also work with other Princeton student organizations to broaden their reach. In the 2025–26 academic year, the Princeton chapter raised approximately $17,000.

With this money, Princeton’s chapter chose to focus its efforts on Benin last year. The chapter set goals of funding five water wells, 100 cataract surgeries, and as many food packages as they could. 

“It’s not just, ‘We’re transferring this much to your bank account,’” Akman said. “It’s also about talking to them to understand their needs.”

Shahd Nimir ’28, the chapter’s fundraising chair, aims to make service accessible rather than just asking students to donate.

“That requires me to be creative,” Nimir explained. Her goal is to organize a fundraising event at least twice per month. 

At a perfume-making event held during Ramadan, for example, students learned how to make perfume, eat, and talk with other members while a donation QR code was displayed.

For Nimir, the organization’s appeal comes from what those contributions — even if small — can accomplish.

“Being able to directly contribute to not only one particular organization, but being able to contribute to multiple families and multiple villages showed me that, wow, you can take a low amount of effort and put that into something way, way bigger,” she noted.

That impact was especially tangible when eight members traveled to the city of Cotonou, as well as multiple towns and villages in Benin. The group visited water-well sites, healthcare facilities and an orphanage supported by the organization’s fundraising efforts. The Princeton chapter’s fundraising, combined with contributions from other Blossom Together chapters, helped fund three water wells, 50 cataract surgeries, and food for an orphanage. 

Nimir said the trip showed her the projects’ consequences beyond fundraising numbers. In some communities, for example, children had to walk long distances to collect water, taking time away from school and exposing them to safety concerns since Benin’s roads have heavy motorcycle traffic. 

“So now with the installation of the new water well, the students also have safe and reliable access to clean water all year round,” Akman said. 

Fatima Kawusu Sheriff ’28, the chapter’s outreach advisor, often reaches out to alumni, nonprofits, and Princeton departments to develop partnerships and create educational speaker events.

Sheriff referenced Princeton’s informal motto, “in the nation’s service and the service of humanity” in reference to the work of Blossom Together. “We actually act on it, and we prove it,” she said.

The philosophy of service also informs Akman’s approach to international travel. Before students visit communities abroad, the chapter holds discussions about cultural, political, and social contexts, as well as language workshops and conversations about ethical approaches to global service. Akman’s goal is to prevent students from seeing international service as simply a trip or a line on a resume.

“I think traveling and doing work globally in an ethical and sustainable way is very important,” she said. “Being informed and learning about the cause, what you’re working for, keeps you feeling motivated and more passionate, and also just more in touch with the communities.”

For students who are introduced to the club through a fundraiser, that larger mission may not always be immediately clear. But behind a QR code or a speaker event are students working to connect Princeton with a larger global effort. That perspective has changed the way Sheriff thinks about Princeton itself.

“Life is bigger than Princeton,” she said.

Elma Cesic is a Features contributor for the ‘Prince.’

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