After a successful Spring Seedling Sale fundraiser, AYLUS Pearland started organizing its Summer Plant Sale in early May. Because of winter storm Uri, many plants died, causing the demand for plants to grow in the greater Houston area. Meanwhile the market price significantly increased by multiple times. AYLUS Pearland secured plant supply from Mrs. Sophie, a Pearland community member, before the February winter storm and by May, those plants were ready to be on the market. The first group of plants for sale included irises, hibiscus, blue leadwood, ruellia, hamelia, blue butterfly, epiphany, aloe etc. and AYLUS Pearland sold them at a fraction of the market price. At the beginning of May the sale was mainly conducted on social media. After posting them online, all the plants were normally purchased and sold within only 30 minutes. AYLUS Pearland volunteers delivered the plants to the buyers’ doors. The big interest from customers motivated more plants donations from AYLUS volunteers. We received a lot of varieties and plants including banana tree, Bougainvillea, Esperanza, papaya plant, Christmas cacti, mint, varieties of basil, star jasmine etc. AYLUS volunteers also donated recycled plant pots made from milk cartons and soda bottles to be more environmentally friendly.
During the 2nd half of May when school approached to an end, AYLUS volunteers started preparing for on-site plant sales. Project lead Andy Jiang, an upcoming high school senior and Chen Wang, an upcoming freshman, worked together to design a trifold brochure which included the fundraiser’s purpose along with pictures of the plants for sale. They visited several sites to select the location and a suitable time for the plant sale. On June 6th, a plant sale stand was set up at the Silverlake HOA Community Park and AYLUS volunteers brought a large variety of plants to sell to the public. The first on-site sale collected $200 within 3 hours. Another on-site plant sale was hosted at the same location on June 19th. A total of $1,200 dollars has been raised from both online sales and on-site sales in May and June, and all the proceeds have been donated to Pearland’s first all-inclusive playground, sponsored by the Forever Park Foundation of Pearland. This fundraiser demonstrates AYLUS Pearland’s commitment and care for helping the special needs community.
Project Lead: Andy Jiang and Chen Wang
June 6th sales team (4:30 – 7pm): Andy Jiang, Chen Wang, Shouchen Liu, Alvin Zhang, Jordan Zheng
June 16th sales team (6-8pm): Kara Li, Aila Jiang, Yu Wang, Andy Jiang
Plant donation: Hannah Sang, Eric Qi, Sean Yu, Zide Liu, Aila Jiang, Derek Zhu
Recycling Flowerpots donation: Aaron Wu, Evan Du, Eric Qi, Matthew Li, Aila Jiang, Jayden Lu
Reported by Aila Jiang
