This is the 61th event hosted by AYLUS Oakland Gardens, held on March 31, 2024. Our members partnered with the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground Conservancy for an Easter clean-up event. This site is a historic cemetery, overseen by Maureen Regan, Ada, and other park workers of the conservancy. Maureen, an advocate who preserved this space for over 13 years, also serves as the Co-Chair of the Conservancy.
Our task for the day was to clean up the conservancy along with the park helpers in a span of three hours. High school and middle school students were responsible for raking and disposing of leaves in different sections of the site, while our younger members also raked leaves and planted daffodils.
Since most of our members have never planted flowers to blossom in the following spring, Maureen Regan and Jobe Walker (supervisor of Kissena Park) stepped in to offer guidance to our workers. Special thanks to them! They explained the basics of daffodil bulbs and why they should be placed into 2-3 inch-deep holes, with 3 or 4 bulbs per hole. This was to ensure that the flowers had the necessary support as they grew tall and strong, using each other as support to stay straight and not wilt over in future harsh climates with lots of wind.
As for our members responsible for raking leaves, we divided everyone into groups of three to maximize efficiency. While one member raked up leaves into neat piles, the other two worked together to move the leaves into trash bags. We’d also like to thank our expert part-time park cleaner, Munoz Carter, for providing assistance to our groups throughout the event. Because of our efforts, we ended up with around 30 bags full of leaves.
In between our work, we were met with a surprise when the park helpers generously provided fruits and drinks to us. The staff actually don’t need to prepare these for us, but Maureen still wanted to express gratitude for our support with their tasks. Even though our main objective was to clean up the site, we really appreciate their thoughtful gestures.
As we wrapped up for the day, our hard workers took a moment to pause and reflect on our contributions today. Meanwhile, the park helpers hosted an Easter egg hunt, in which they hid eggs around the site for our younger members to find.
Once again, we would like to thank Maureen Regan, Ada, and all of our other helpers at the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground Conservancy. Through our combined efforts, we not only finished our job to preserve this site but also shared many moments of joy and celebration for both our members and the park helpers. We are honored to have been able to work with them!
Our volunteers:
Jia Qi (Angela) Liu: 3 hours
Stephanie ShiRan You: 3 hours
Ryan Wu: 3 hours
Sophia ShiHan You : 3 hours
Tyler Siegel: 3 hours
Cindy Siegel: 3 hours
Anthony Lin: 3 hours
Hong Hao (Alfred) Liu: 3 hours
Ivan Wu: 3 hours
Kingston Wu: 3 hours
Eric Yu: 3 hours
XiangXi Yu: 3 hours
Benny Zou: 3 hours
Kingsley Chen: 3 hours
Blake Han: 3 hours
Tianxiang Ding: 3 hours
Isabella Wang: 3 hours
Junzhe Ling: 3 hours
Tong Ren: 3 hours
Le Ren: 3 hours
Hao Chen Liu: 3 hours
Yichen Liu: 3 hours
Yuxin Lin: 3 hours
Melissa Chen: 3 hours
Ian Lee: 3 hours
Elina Lee: 3 hours
Vicki Lin: 3 hours
Emily Zheng: 3 hours
Hannah Zheng: 3 hours
Melody Ke: 3 hours
Liam Cheung: 3 hours
Brandon Lin: 3 hours
Queena Li: 3 hours
Darren Chen: 3 hours
Colleen Chen: 3 hours
Zoey Zhou: 3 hours
Zhiyan Zeng: 3 hours
Aidan Zheng: 3 hours
Matthew Lin: 3 hours
Albert Tang: 3 hours
Hangxu Yu: 3 hours
Mo Yu: 3 hours
Si QI Chen: 3 hours
Evaline Yuel: 3 hours
Austin Yuel: 3 hours
Jordan Leung: 3 hours
Darren Li: 3 hours
Austin Li: 3 hours
Mandy Lin: 3 hours
Sophia Lin: 3 hours
Alina Lin: 3 hours
Song Hou: 3 hours
Kaisa Wu : 3 hours
Nerissa Xu: 1.5 hours
Paxton Xu: 1.5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Cui Li (Fannie)
Teng Fei Liu (Faye)
Report written by: Brandon Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
