On Thursday, February 1, 2024, AYLUS Oakland Gardens members went to MS 74 to pick books that were in a book drive bin. It was a cold day when our members went to pick up the books, but we were still determined.
When our branch president, Jia Qi Liu (Angela), notified us that our current main goal will be working on the Africa Library, two of our members, Sophia ShiHan You and Hong Hao (Alfred) Liu, decided to inform their SO teacher, Mr. Pustorino, about this. Before telling him about the event, they introduced AYLUS to him, as he didn’t know what AYLUS was. They told him that AYLUS stands for Alliance of Youth Leaders in the United States and that we were a non-profit organization. When we told Mr. Pustorino about our goal, Africa Library Project, he was enthralled to help and found a bin for them to decorate.
The people who decorated the bin were Sophia ShiHan You, Hong Hao (Alfred) Liu, and some other SO members of MS 74. It took them a total of 4 lunch periods to finish decorating the bin. In the end, Mr. Pustorino and Mr. Nuccio, the other SO teacher, was thrilled to see the final product. We put the bin in a highly noticeable place and around one week later, Mr. Pustorino contacted our parent advisor to arrange a time to pick up the books. Our members were flabbergasted that MS 74 wanted to help so much.
When our members started to collect the books, we found out that there were a lot more books than we realized. There was our original decorated bin and two boxes. Our parent advisor brought just enough bags to put the books in. Mr. Pustorino gave his thanks because we were helping people, which is one of the themes of MS 74’s S.O. He promised to put all of our MS 74 members on the morning meetings slides to let the whole school know what we are doing.
When we filled all the bags to the brim, our members brought all the bags to our parent advisor’s car. Even though the bags were heavy, our members still did all the work themselves, from lifting the books to placing them in the car.
We’d like to thank everyone who donated at MS 74 for helping our cause. A very special thank you to Mr. Pustorino and Mr. Nuccio for letting us do this event and introducing our branch to everyone in MS 74. Without you, this event wouldn’t be possible.
Our Volunteers:
Hong Hao Liu (Alfred): 1.5 hours
Sophia Shi Han You: 1.5 hours
Aiden Lin: 0.5 hours
Ioknor Lin: 0.5 hours
Stephanie ShiRan You: 0.5 hours
Austin Yuel: 0.5 hours
Ricky Song: 0.5 hours
Evaline Yuel: 0.5 hours
Report by: Hong Hao (Alfred) Liu
Reviewed by Jia Qi Liu (Angela)
