On Saturday, November 11th, 2023, from 9 am to 12 pm, volunteers from AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch went to Alley Pond Park Adventure Course to repaint all the benches. While the weather was sunny, the wind made it colder than it was. However, it eventually became warmer, which was perfect for drying the benches that we repainted.
Why we are repainting the benches in the park instead of doing some other activity is because we wish to help the park, who are understaffed for this job. To repaint the benches as efficiently as possible, it requires a lot of hands who are willing to help. This repainting protects the wood during colder months and erases the build-up of graffiti on it. The benches were repainted so well that people weren’t able to tell that it was done by a group of minors.
The park’s view was very peaceful and colorful during the fall, which is why many people like to go here to relax. However, the paint on the benches were all peeling and made the park look like it had not been taken care of for a long time, giving it a feeling of abandonment. We quickly got to work as if we didn’t, then the people sitting on the benches would be sitting on dirt, sand, etc.
During the 3 hours we spent at the park, we painted the benches and some guardrails/handrails. Our supplies were lent to us by Robert Taylor, a park worker, and Chris Burton, a junior supervisor. First, we put on gloves and used them to wipe off all the debris on the benches so they would not be encased in the paint. While we were painting the benches, the wet paint would drip onto the floor. So to keep the ground and plants clean and paint-free, we put plastic mats on the floor.
We used multiple buckets of dark green paint that dried quickly. While the benches were still wet, we put caution tape on it to prevent people from sitting on them. When we were done with the few benches in one area, Robert Taylor and Chris Burton brought us to more benches that we could repaint. They led us around the Alley Pond Park Adventure Course, which contained multiple benches that needed repainting.
In the end, we finished around 30 benches and 6 guardrails/handrails in total. We are all proud of everything that we could accomplish unified together as a team.
We would like to thank Robert Taylor, Chris Burton, and Stephen Cunningham, a supervisor who dropped in to check on us, for helping us and supplying us with the proper materials. Oakland Gardens Branch will have a long term partnership with the New York Park Department. We appreciate the opportunities that they give us.
Volunteers:
Stephanie ShiRan You: 3 hours
Hong Hao Liu (Alfred): 3 hours
Sophia ShiHan You: 3 hours
Zhiyan Zeng: 3 hours
Ioknor Lin: 3 hours
Ioklee Lin: 3 hours
Evina Liu: 3 hours
Hannah Liu: 3 hours
Colleen Chen: 3 hours
Darren Chen: 3 hours
Vicki Lin: 3 hours
Ryan Wu: 3 hours
Jiayuan He: 3 hours
Jamie Chen: 3 hours
Aiden Lin: 3 hours
Brandon Lin: 3 hours
Jameson Liu: 3 hours
Erica Wu: 3 hours
Austin Yuel: 3 hours
Evaline Yuel: 3 hours
Report by: Sophia ShiHan You, Vicki Lin, & Hong Hao Liu (Alfred)
