In June 2025, Orlando resident Allison Doolittle traveled to the island of Lesbos, Greece, to volunteer at a refugee camp.
She had been connected to a Greek nonprofit known as Eurorelief, aimed at serving displaced people, by a friend and fellow volunteer, Candace. Doolittle, who had lived in Athens, Greece, for five years between 2010 and 2016, used her time in Lesbos this summer to support a team of college student volunteers at the refugee camp, giving a cultural introduction, teaching some Greek and doing various behind-the-scenes tasks to benefit the residents in the camp.
Allison Doolittle volunteered at a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, during the month of June. (COURTESY OF ALLISON DOOLITTLE)
“Most of the refugees are coming from Syria and Afghanistan right now,” Doolittle said. “There were also people that had come from much further.”
The camp in Lesbos is a replacement for a former shelter that had been lost in a fire. The new camp, while different, has increased safety measures and infrastructural improvements. Located near the Aegean Sea, the site is a former military base.
Next to the Aegean Sea on the island of Lesbos, the camp’s ground is dusty, dry and covered in white rocks that reflect the sun. (COURTESY OF ALLISON DOOLITTLE)
“I was really moved by the people that I met,” Doolittle said. “There was a really smart girl who I talked to one day, and she was just telling me about her dreams for the future and how she really wanted to go to school.”
Doolittle was struck by the girl’s eagerness and hunger for learning.
“When her brother came, I pulled up a video on my phone from Khan Academy because he said that he really wanted to learn about chemistry,” Doolittle said. “I told them I used to have a teacher that I loved, and we learned about Avogadro’s number. And they were like, ‘What’s that?’ And so we learned about it together.”
Doolittle’s favorite memory is playing the Baby Shark game with some of the kids and volunteers. It reminded her of the commonalities between cultures and the comparability of the human experience.
“Everyone knows Baby Shark, right?” Doolittle said.
Since returning to Orlando, Doolittle has been focused on serving the residents of the camp through book donations and building community closer to home through various events in Orlando.
“I’ve been thinking about how I love my neighbors,” Doolittle said. “A lot of people here are immigrants from other places. I want to do something tangible in a way that honors the people that I’m serving. I think that it’s really good for us to remember that our neighbors, whether they’re immigrants or they’ve lived here for generations, have dignity and value.”
You can support Allison Doolittle’s efforts to “help immigrant kids thrive” here in Orlando, inspired by her childhood experience abroad and her time in Greece this summer, by donating to her GoFundMe, “Orlando Blooms,” dedicated to growing both plants and community: GoFundMe.com/f/support-orlando-blooms-growing-community.