On Saturday, October 28th, 2023, volunteers from AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch and members from the Steel Hawks Robotics Team partnered together to participate in the Halloween Festival at Fort Totten Park from 1 pm to 5 pm, where we were invited to set up our own table by NYC Parks. The weather was nice and there were many people who were in their Halloween costumes.
During the 4 hours of the event, we helped with the park’s activities, such as handing out pumpkins, as well as running our own table with balloon animals and face painting. Since we are partnering with the Steel Hawks Robotics Team as they also wish to make a change in their community on top of providing opportunities to students, they helped us with distributing the pumpkins, face painting, and learning how to make balloon animals. Throughout the event, there were many people lining up to receive a balloon animal as well as face painting. This wasn’t just limited to children, but also adults who wish to have a simple design of face painting.
Halfway into the event, our balloon pump broke. One of our members’ parents went out to buy a new pump so we can continue making balloons to give to everyone at the event today. However, as the wait was long, some of the parents of children who wanted the balloons took the matter into their own hands, trying to use the broken pump to make the balloon into a usable length. They managed to get air into the balloon, thus allowing us to make some dogs for the children.
At the event, we met the city councilwoman, Vickie Paladino, where we introduced AYLUS. She and her team were very nice and in support of AYLUS. They wanted to thank us for coming to the event and providing more smiles to the people, as there were many people lining up at our table.
Our group and members of the Steel Hawks bonded and enjoyed themselves while doing this event. Both teams worked together, learning and growing at the same time. Special thanks to our member’s parent who went out to buy a new pump as well as members from the Steel Hawks who showed up today.
Our Volunteers:
Jia Qi Liu (Angela): 4 hours
Vicki Lin: 4 hours
Anthony Lin: 4 hours
Brandon Lin: 4 hours
Aiden Lin: 4 hours
Sophia Shi Han You: 4 hours
Hong Hao Liu (Alfred): 4 hours
Stephanie Shi Lan You: 4 hours
Colleen Chen: 4 hours
Darren Chen: 4 hours
Elvin Huang: 4 hours
Boyuan Chen: 4 hours
Report by Jia Qi Liu (Angela), Andy Chen, Jessica Lin, Susan Yang