AYLUS Oakland Gardens Reorganizes Kissena Park’s Tool Room (6/22/25)

On Sunday, June 22nd, 2025, from 8:30 am to 12 pm, volunteers from AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch participated in a tool organization event at Kissena Park with Roxana for their 166th event. A cleanup of invasive plant species such as mugwort and rosa multiflora, which has grown out of control was originally planned. The weeds are spread out in disarray along the edge of Kissena Lake, and are a danger to native plants and animals. The original plan was to remove all these plants, which would clear the lakeside view and help the community appreciate the park even more, especially during the summertime. However, because of the thunderstorm and unsafe weather conditions outdoors, Roxana led the volunteers in sorting the various brooms, clippers, and rakes in the park ranger’s tool room.

Rearranging the tool room was an important task that increased convenience for the park rangers. Additionally, the clean, organized space saves time and easily allows volunteers to access tools. Our main priority was reorganizing regularly used items like brooms, rakes, shovels, and clippers. These tools were previously scattered across the room or leaning in different directions, which made them hard to find, caused clutter, and even posed safety hazards.

By grouping similar items together and placing them in designated areas, we created a much more efficient layout. Long-handled tools like rakes and brooms were lined up neatly along the wall corners, while smaller clippers were sorted into boxes. Although we could not help the park directly by trimming the weeds, we were still able to make an impact by enforcing a tidy working environment. Overall, this reorganization helped us realize that there is more than one way to leave a positive influence in our community.