On March 29th, 2024, members of AYLUS (Alliance of Youth Leaders in the United States) Oakland Gardens Branch donated books to two public libraries in Queens. This is our 59th event so far held by AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch. The names of the two public libraries that we donated our books to are “Queens Public Library at East Flushing” and “Queens Public Library at Bayside”.
These books that we donated were leftover from one of our previous projects that we had recently concluded, our African Library Project. The project aimed to collect and send at least 1,000 books (levels K to 8th grade) to children in more poverty-stricken / impacted areas in Africa. We received book donations and support from Townsend Harris High School, Public School 203, Junior High School 74, a local CVS Pharmacy, and Chelsea Art School. Due to this, we received enough books in a quicker/shorter amount of time than we previously thought it would take. Not only did we exceed or goal, but we also had books leftover to spare after this project!
In the end, we decided to donate our leftover books from this project to two local public libraries near our area. This way, we would also be giving back to our community.
We first went “Queens Public Library in East Flushing” and then “Queens Public Library at Bayside”. We had previously put all our spare books in boxes. Our members loaded them into cars, and then proceeded to drive to the libraries with the locations given from one of our parent advisors. When we got there, we would unload the boxes from the car and take them into the libraries. One of the libraries we donated to was equipped with a book — drop off book for donations, while we dropped off the other one with workers at the library. Our members worked very hard throughout this whole event.
While we were at “Queens Public Library in East Flushing”, a worker at the library observed us donating books. While we were leaving the library, she informed our branch that Queens Public Library was doing a Prom Dress Collection Drive and Giveaway from March 25th to April 18th. We told her that we would keep this in mind, and thanked her.
Thank you to all the members who showed up, participated and contributed to this event! We are very thankful that you can work with us and better our community with us, step by step.
Our volunteers:
Jia Qi (Angela) Liu: 1 hour
Sophia ShiHan You: 1 hour
Hong Hao (Alfred) Liu: 1 hour
Stephanie ShiRan You: 1 hour
Ioknor Lin: 1 hour
Ioklee Lin: 1 hour
Iokseng Lin: 1 hour
Iokting Lin: 1 hour
Matthew Lin: 1 hour
Evaline Yuel: 1 hour
Austin Yuel: 1 hour
Vicki Lin: 1 hour
Parent Adviser Team:
Hsinhui Liao (Karen)
Teng Fei Liu (Faye)
Report written by: Sophia ShiHan You
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
