AYLUS Oakland Gardens Beautifies the Garden Beds of Kissena Park (8/2/2025)

On August 2nd, 2025, AYLUS Oakland Gardens held its 181st event at the Kissena Park Lake Shore. We were accompanied by Park Supervisor Roxana and other park workers. During the event, we worked along the park’s garden beds, trimming trees and clearing out invasive plants. This event lasted from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM, and around 50 members showed up to this event.

Before our event began, our members gathered together near the Kissena Park Public Bathroom. There, our parent advisor team split our members into five groups depending on each area’s size. Each group was distributed tools based on their assigned tasks, with most high school students receiving shovels. Once a group was prepared with their tools, Roxana guided them down from the general area to where their garden bed was located.

The garden bed area was alongside the park hub, with around ten beds surrounding the building. Following Roxana’s instructions, our groups went to their designated beds and began their assignments. Each group used shovels and gloves to clear out the beds by removing unwanted plants and weeds. It was important that our members kept the loose soil within the beds and away from the path. Additionally, some of our younger members were tasked with either cutting off overgrown branches from bushes using loppers or raking piles of dead leaves and plants. Each garden bed also had members stationed to hold trash bags and collect the gathered plant waste.

In the final stretch of our event, all of our members gathered to complete the last task. In one corner of the park, a flower bed was overrun with overgrown plants and weeds that needed to be taken care of. While some of these plants looked like blooming flowers or young tree saplings, Roxana explained that they still needed to be removed to allow other plants to grow. By beautifying this area, future visitors walking along the block outside the park can enjoy a more pleasant view.

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 hot 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: