On November 2nd, 2024, AYLUS Oakland Gardens held its 129th event at the Kissena Park Playground. We were accompanied by Park Supervisor Roxana and other park workers, although park worker Ada was unable to come today. During the event, we repainted benches and raked leaves around the park. This event lasted from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, and around 50 members showed up to this event.
Before our event began, our members were split up into teams. Since there were ten sets of paint tools, our high school members paired up into ten teams of two. Then, a younger member would join each team, so that everyone on a team would have a designated role. The remaining members without a paint tool would rake leaves in the park.
When we inspected the benches, we noticed patches of missing or worn paint both inside and outside the playground. The first step in repainting was to scrape off the old, chipped paint. Long strips of wet paint paper were placed beneath each bench to collect paint chips and drips, with rocks set on top to prevent them from blowing away in the strong winds. High school members handled the more challenging tools, such as scrapers and hard brushes, to remove rough paint spots along the benches. After parent advisors and park staff approved the scraping, groups were provided with paint containers and tools.
The paint job was mostly done by our middle school members. Painting required two members, one member to apply a coat with a roller and another member to fill in tight edges and corners with a brush. Our parent advisors instructed each group on the “Goldilocks rule” for painting: if the paint applied is too wet, the bench would end up with a bumpy texture, and if the paint applied is too dry, the paint job would leave areas unpainted. To achieve a smooth and filling texture, our members covered the paint tools with paint from the containers, and then rolled or stroked the tools along the insides of the container to keep paint volume consistent. Our members used continuous strokes along the same areas to ensure an even spread across each bench. After completing a bench, they taped a “Wet Paint” sheet somewhere near the bench to warn visitors of the drying paint.
While the painting teams worked, other members were busy raking leaves around the playground. With winter approaching, trees had shed their leaves, covering the ground. Roxana provided rakes, leaf scoops, and paper bags for gathering leaves. Despite initial challenges — such as wind blowing leaves from piles and stray leaves nearing active paint stations — the wind calmed, and members picked up their pace. Eventually, we ran out of paper bags, and park rangers provided black trash bags, which we continued to fill. By the end of the event, we had not only painted dozens of benches, but also filled over 20 bags with leaves.
We would like to extend our thanks to Park Supervisor Roxana and all the park staff for providing us with the tools and guidance that made this event possible! We truly appreciate the opportunity to work with you and hope to collaborate again in the future. During this event, we were able to beautify the park for the community. We would also like to express our gratitude to our parent advisor team for their support of our members. Finally, we would like to thank all the AYLUS Oakland Gardens members who joined us today despite the increasingly cold weather. Your efforts have contributed to the preservation of Kissena Park, ensuring it will be enjoyed by visitors for many years to come!
Our volunteers:
Sophia ShiHan You： 3 hours
Stephanie ShiRan You :3 hours
Hong Hao Liu： 3 hours
Evan Li ： 3 hours
Alana Lin： 3 hours
Amber Tsai ： 3 hours
Opal Tsai： 3 hours
Alex Lu ： 3 hours
Vicky Liu： 3 hours
Yifei Mei ： 3 hours
Patrick Guan： 3 hours
Justin Cheong： 3 hours
Shirley Chiu ： 3 hours
Vicki Lin： 3 hours
Kaisa Wu： 3 hours
Ioklee Lin ： 3 hours
Ioknor Lin ： 3 hours
Junlong Mei ： 3 hours
Brandon Lin： 3 hours
Aiden Lin ： 3 hours
Emerson Chen： 3 hours
Rex He： 3 hours
Karis Lau： 3 hours
Bowen Chen ： 3 hours
Albert Tang： 3 hours
Zhengyilan Fang： 3 hours
Eric Zheng： 3 hours
Michelle Song ： 3 hours
Tiffany Pan： 3 hours
Owen Guo： 3 hours
Isabella Wang:3 hours
khloe Yang:3 hours
Martin Qu :3 hours
Ethan Dai:3 hours
Anthony Xu :3 hours
Sophia Xu :3 hours
Katrina Zhang:3 hours
Kaitlyn Zhang:3 hours
Steven Zhu:3 hours
Kaden He:3 hours
Yize Dong:3 hours
Alexander Lu:3 hours
Lucas Yuan:3 hours
Ivan Cao:3 hours
Hannah Liu:3 hours
Orion Zheng :3 hours
Leon Chen :3 hours
Ethan Lin:3 hours
Jasmine Lin:3 hours
Maggie Liu :3 hours
Sophia Lu: 1.5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Cui Fang Li (Fannie): 4 hours
Teng Fei Liu (Faye): 4 hours
Hsinhui Liao (Karen): 4 hours
Report written by: Brandon Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
