On June 29th, 2024, AYLUS Oakland Gardens held its 79th event by participating in “Its My Park Day” at Bowne Playground. During this event, we worked with Maureen Regan, Frank, Ada, and other park workers to beautify Bowne Playground. We picked up trash around the park, mulched the garden beds, and removed weeds to keep Bowne Playground clean and healthy.
We have worked with Maureen Regan several times in the past, at both Bowne Playground and the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground Conservancy. Maureen is the Co-Chair of the latter. Maureen Regan has extensive experience working for the community. She has been working in the community for over 14 years and is the founder of Green Earth Urban Gardens, a nonprofit organization that focuses on gardening and green spaces within urban communities. We would like to thank her for working with us during this event, and we would also like to thank the park workers for providing us with tools for the event.
After we got the tools, we split into three groups. The first group focused on mulching the various garden beds in the park. This was done because mulch provides nutrition, suppresses weeds, and regulates temperature and water levels. The high school students worked to shovel the mulch into wheelbarrows and take it to garden beds. We soon ran into a problem: many of these garden beds were surrounded by fences. While we directly shoveled mulch into the garden bed closest to the mulch pile, we weren’t able to do this for the garden beds further away. To solve this problem, we lifted the wheelbarrows on top of the fence and poured the mulch into the garden beds. While we worked to transport the mulch, some of our other members used rakes to spread the mulch evenly across the garden beds.
The second group focused on removing garbage from the park. They went around the premises of the park with trash pickers and garbage bags to remove the litter from the ground. While the park wasn’t too dirty, it had a lot of visitors, so there was still a decent amount of trash to remove from the park, such as cigarette butts and wrappers.
The third group focused on removing weeds from the garden beds. They spread out among the garden beds and used rakes, shovels, and spades to dig the weeds out of the soil and put them into trash bags. This was done to ensure that the weeds did not outcompete the other plants in the garden. Our members made sure to only remove the weeds and not damage the other plants, which our members thought looked like large bushes.
Midway through the event, Maureen Regan graciously provided us with water, muffins, donuts, croissants, and apples. We sincerely appreciate her generosity and kindness. The food was delicious, and we thank her for going out of her way to provide water and food for us. After the break, we continued our work.
By the end of the event, we were able to remove large amounts of trash from the park and clear large amounts of weeds from the garden beds. The mulch pile was mostly used up, and we spread the remaining mulch around to ensure that none of it went to waste.
We would like to thank Maureen Regan, Ada, Frank, and all of the other park workers who helped us during the event. Thank you for letting us work with you, and we hope to collaborate with you again in the future. We would also like to thank our parent advisor team and all of the members who showed up to this event. Despite the heat, you endured and worked tirelessly to preserve Bowne Playground. You worked diligently and collaboratively, and your efforts have helped make Bowne Playground as clean and vibrant as it is today, ensuring that it can be enjoyed by visitors for years to come.
Our Volunteers:
Jia Qi (Angela) Liu: 3.5 hours
Hong Hao (Alfred) Liu: 3.5 hours
Ioknor Lin: 3.5 hours
Iokseng Lin: 3.5 hours
Ioklee Lin: 3.5 hours
Patrick Yeung: 3.5 hours
Benny Yeung: 3.5 hours
Stephanie ShiRan You: 3.5 hours
Amy Liu: 3.5 hours
Derrick Gao: 3.5 hours
Karis Yan-tung Lau: 3.5 hours
Shirley Chiu: 3.5 hours
Justin Cheong: 3.5 hours
Jerry Zhu: 3.5 hours
Jasmine Lin: 3.5 hours
Ethan Lin: 3.5 hours
Joanna Qu: 3.5 hours
Jasmine Qu: 3.5 hours
Aiden Lin: 3.5 hours
Brandon Lin: 3.5 hours
Jiaheng Yu: 3.5 hours
Shi Zhen Li: 3.5 hours
Shi Hao Li: 3.5 hours
Sophia Gao: 3.5 hours
Sabrina Gao: 3.5 hours
Carolyn Zhao: 3.5 hours
Alecia Zhao: 3.5 hours
Tong Ren: 3.5 hours
Haochen Liu: 3.5 hours
Tian Xiang Ding: 3.5 hours
YuXin Liu: 3.5 hours
Le Ren: 3.5 hours
Yi Chen Liu: 3.5 hours
Ruiqi He: 3.5 hours
Elyssa Lin: 3.5 hours
Ziheng Jiao: 3.5 hours
Eric Zheng: 3.5 hours
Alex Lu: 3.5 hours
Tyler Siegel: 3.5 hours
Cindy Siegel: 3.5 hours
Ian Lee: 3.5 hours
Elina Lee: 3.5 hours
Huizhen Piao: 3.5 hours
Sophia Lin: 3.5 hours
Mandy Lin: 3.5 hours
Sophia Xu: 3.5 hours
Anthony Xu: 3.5 hours
Emily Chen: 3.5 hours
Howard Yang: 3.5 hours
Sophia ShiHan You: 3.5 hours
XiLin Huang: 3.5 hours
Isabella Wang: 3.5 hours
Erica Li: 3.5 hours
Anthony Lin: 3.5 hours
Vicki Lin: 3.5 hours
Xiang Xiyu: 3.5 hours
Albert Tang: 3.5 hours
Eric Yu: 3.5 hours
Liam Cheung: 3.5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Cui Fang Li (Fannie): 4.5 hours
Teng Fei Liu (Faye): 4.5 hours
Hsinhui Liao (Karen): 4.5 hours
Report written by: Anthony Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
