On Monday, July 14th, 2025, from 8:15 am to 12:15 pm, volunteers from AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch participated in a general cleanup at Bowne Playground with Maureen Regan, a community advocate, for their 172nd event.
At the beginning of the event, the volunteers were assigned to three groups. The male high school volunteers were assigned to spread out mulch with rakes and shovels on the soil with Ada, a park ranger. The purpose of spreading mulch is to slow down the growth of weeds. Another group, led by Karen, a parent advisor, where members shoveled up mulch into wheelbarrows to bring to members for them to spread. Jenny, a parent advisor, led the trash-picking group. They used trash grabbers and sweepers to clean up cigarette butts, used water balloons, food wrappers, and fallen leaves on the ground.
From this event, we learned that allocating a little time in our day to cleaning can make a huge difference in our park and community. The park looked cleaner and ready for people to appreciate. There were 29 trash bags by the end of the cleanup, significantly improving the park’s appearance. However, we believe that people should be more mindful of their actions and the negative impact of litter on a community space. We hope to continue hosting these community cleanups regularly and to raise awareness about the importance of respecting shared public spaces.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this event, including Maureen Regan, the parent advisor team, and park rangers for their support and help.
Our volunteers:
1.Sophia ShiHan You: 4 hours
2.Hong Hao Liu: 4 hours
3.Stephanie ShiRan You: 4 hours
4.Ricky Song: 4 hours
5.Zhiheng Zhou: 4 hours
6.Sophia Xu: 4 hours
7.Eric Zheng: 4 hours
8.Shi Hao Li: 4 hours
9.Bowen Chen: 4 hours
10.Sabrina Gao: 4 hours
11.Derrick Gao: 4 hours
12.Kaisa Wu: 4 hours
13.Dylan Chen: 4 hours
14.Eason Lin: 4 hours
15.Ivan Cao: 4 hours
16.Yuhan Lin: 4 hours
17.Yujie Zhu: 4 hours
18. Luke Chen: 4 hours
19.Terrence Cao: 4 hours
20. Aiden Lin: 4 hours
21.Brandon Lin: 4 hours
22.Selena ShiYan You: 4 hours
23.Zihan Shi: 4 hours
24. Mohan Luo: 3.5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Fannie Li: 9 hours
Karen Liao: 9 hours
Faye Liu: 9 hours
Report Written by: Sabrina Gao
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
