In the weeks surrounding Lunar New Year, members of AYLUS Oakland Gardens have been making and selling balloons to support and fundraise for our African Library Project. We have to cover the delivery fee and shipping costs for this project.
Our goal for 2024 is to donate a “library” to children in Africa. This project aims to send at least 1,000 books (from levels K to 8th grade) to children in poverty-stricken/affected areas in Africa. Our volunteer branch will be responsible for all the shipping costs of these books (estimated to be around $1,200), and we will additionally donate $500 to Africa because they need this funding to prepare and build a library. It isn’t easy to raise about $1700 and get at least 1000 books to donate to Africa. Our members work hard and do their best to achieve this goal.
Our members have been making balloons related to Lunar New Year finishing homework, which is usually late at night. We called one of them “God of Wealth ”, with it appearing as a man dressed in red, with a hat and mustache. The prices have been ranging from 10-40 dollars. Each of these are placed in baskets, handmade from paper, tape, and cardboard by our members themselves, with other balloons such as colorful flowers. These flowers range from colors such as purple, orange, green, and pink, to more metallic colors such as gold, silver, and bronze.
So far, we have sold approximately a dozen of these festive balloons. Whenever someone buys a balloon, they are also supporting us in our goal to donate a “library” to children in the more poverty – stricken areas of Africa.
Our members have been delivering the balloons directly to the people who ordered, with the help of our parent advisor and their parents. The people who have ordered are very satisfied with the balloons, and we are very thankful that they are helping us reach our goal. Some of the people who ordered even paid extra, to support us more.
Thank you to everyone who donated books / money, as it brings us closer to our goal, and closer to one more library for children in Africa!
Our volunteers:
Sophia ShiHan You: 2.5 hours
Hong Hao (Alfred) Liu: 2.5 hours
Stephanie ShiRan Liu: 2.5 hours
Jia Qi (Angela) Liu: 2 hours
Report by : Sophia ShiHan You
Reviewed by : Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
