On October 4th, great neck AYLUS sent volunteers to assist OPA(Ohana paddling association) with their Dragon Boat Festival at North Hempstead Beach. AYLUS volunteers assisted in a variety of a roles including , Marshalling(checking teams into the race), Running(calling teams down to get marshalled or get physical supplies from the command tent),Judging(scoring and timing teams), or Crowd Control(Making sure vendors are set up, lines don’t interfere with transportation and helping the other roles when needed). Volunteers arrived at 6:30 to help set up the event before the races started. During this time volunteers checked in teams and volunteers, and marshallers and runners were given instructions for the day. At 8am the races officially started and our volunteers got to work. How the races worked was that a team would be marshalled for their race ahead of time to make sure there are no unnecessary delays in the schedule. runners would be sent up to retrieve the teams and make sure they get to marshalling. During and after races the judges would time the teams and score them accordingly. At around 1 pm the races are paused for teams and volunteers to eat lunch and prepare for the rest of the day. About an hour earlier the vendors started to set up and Crowd Control was there to assist them or help set up. After the lunch break the races finished up ahead of schedule due to the superb job done by all the Marshaling, Running, and Judging volunteers. An awards ceremony was held to honor the teams that participated and specifically those who won awards. At 5pm a lantern festival was held, where families would be given lanterns by volunteers and put them out onto the water. After the lanterns were distributed and used volunteers would assist in cleaning them up before leaving the venue. Overall the Dragon Boat Festival at North Hempstead Beach was a huge success and we can’t wait to be provided an opportunity to volunteer next year.
Volunteers hour – 8 hours
Wenteng Shao, Jing Liang, Nuoxi Jiang, Kevin Zhang, Xiuzhong Zheng(susan), Yexi Cui, Meixin Ding, Jinru Xie, Nathan Li, Hongyue Jiang, Kevin Li, Yu Tang, Baiyu Chen, Ivy Li, Jocelyn Chen Emma Ding, Kyle Zheng, Irena Jiang, Rainie Cheng, Chloe Wang, Ethan Lam, Christina Pan, Yucheng Fu, Peilin Li, Yiwei Chen, Raymond Li, Serena Chen, Yangfeng Zheng, Yingxiang Liu, Felicia Liu, Sabrina Yang, Lingjuan Zeng, Anna Guo, Jingyi Hu, Cystral Chen, Rebecca Xu, Andrew Li, Sophia Yu, Haoyang Sun, Brian Zhang, Jolynn Li, Ryder Li, Catherine Tao, Lina Xiao,Yuya Liu, Benjamin Ko, Yutong Zhang, Harry Chen, Jiangyuan Yu, Zachary Chen, Jason Huang
Reporter-Kevin Zhang