On Sunday, October 22nd, 2023, volunteers from the Oakland Gardens Branch had a park clean-up at Alley Pond Park in Springfield Blvd from 9:30 am to 12 pm. Our members were looking forward to bench painting, giving our benches in the park a fresh coat of paint, however, due to the weather, this event was postponed. Yet, our members did not want to let one setback stop them from bettering the community, thus they went on and cleaned the park today.
During the 2.5 hours that our members were cleaning the park, we found a variety of objects through the park. We cleaned up the scattered bottle caps as well as plastic left in the park. Today as there are other activities happening in the park, we kept in mind to not disturb them while cleaning the park, as it will be rude of us to do so. As we went around them, kids who took a break from their soccer practice went and helped us as well, wanting to lend a helping hand in bettering the park.
We went through the entire park, before venturing into the area of the park where there are more overgrown bushes and trees. We noticed that the area has not been clean before, thus accumulating a lot of trash. From there we have collected various plastic bottles, food containers, and even cans of flammable gas that are used for hot pot. Our members got concerned and quickly made sure to put the cans into our trash bags as they could potentially cause a fire in our park. After making sure this one area contains no more trash and anything that can potentially cause a fire, we moved on to the next area, which produced a bigger surprise. This next area contains even more plastic bottles, a lighter, and a lot of alcohol bottles that range from empty to nearly full. We make sure to collect all of these, as these can cause harm to the environment. From here, we managed to fill 2 bags just with bottles and other plastic waste that was left behind.
At the end of our event, our members packed everything up and had fun with each other. The parents are glad to see us getting along, as we are bonding with each other despite being from different grades and schools. The parents are happy that AYLUS has given us an opportunity to grow as people and that we are becoming closer and more as a team.
Our Volunteers:
Jia Qi Liu (Angela): 2.5 Hours
Vicky Lin: 2.5 Hours
Anthony Lin: 2.5 Hours
Sophia Shi Han You: 2.5 Hours
Hong Hao Liu (Alfred): 2.5 Hours
Stephanie Shi Lan You: 2.5 Hours
Iokseng Lin: 2.5 Hours
Ioklee Lin: 2.5 Hours
Ioknor Lin: 2.5 Hours
Iokting Lin: 2.5 Hours
Report by Jia Qi Liu (Angela), Andy Chen, Jessica Lin, Susan Yang