On Saturday, December 2nd, 2023, volunteers from the AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch rake the leaves in Alley Pond Park, Springfield Blvd from 9 am to 11 am. The weather was very foggy, however, it was the perfect temperature for us to volunteer in, as it was not too hot or too cold. This is to finish raking the rest of the leaves that were still in the park, to clear up all the leaves that can lead to a slipping hazard.
We had to change our schedule last minute to Saturday instead of Sunday as the weather reported that it will be raining. However, due to this last minute change, Mr. Chris Burton didn’t expect so many of us to show up to help with raking the leaves. Yet many of our members still decided to help as it is bettering the community park even if there weren’t enough tools for us due to the expectation that not many will show up.
During the 2 hours that we worked to rake the leaves, our members worked hard to fill up 133 bags of leaves. Due to the fact that it was raining Friday, the leaves were heavier than last week, as well as leading our members to think of different ways to bag the leaves efficiently. We used rakes with a bigger bottom to be able to scoop up the leaves and dump them into the bags, causing us to be tired as the leaves were heavy and so were the bags. We use paper bags this time as the bags can also be recycled along with the leaves when they are transported to the transfer station in Cunningham to be turned into mulch and compost. At the end of the event, our members cleaned the tools provided to us and brought them back to where they are kept.
Thank you to Mr. Chris Burton for providing us with materials despite the weather and to our members for pulling through even with the last minute change in schedule.
Our Volunteers:
Jia Qi Liu (Angela): 2 hours
Vicki Lin: 2 hours
Aiden Lin: 2 hours
Brandon Lin: 2 hours
Anthony Lin: 2 hours
Sophia Shi Han You: 2 hours
Hong Hao Liu (Alfred): 2 hours
Colleen Chen: 2 hours
Stephanie Shi Ran You: 2 hours
Darren Chen: 2 hours
Iokseng Lin: 2 hours
Ioknor Lin: 2 hours
Nina Yang: 2 hours
Grace Lin: 2 hours
Runyi Liu: 2 hours
Erica Li: 2 hours
Huaiqian Liu: 2 hours
Jiaheng Yu: 2 hours
PaiPai Xu (Nick): 2 hours
Henry Xu: 2 hours
Jocelyn Tsu: 2 hours
Klayton Tsu: 2 hours
Ella Tong: 2 hours
Ethan Lin: 2 hours