On Monday, August 17, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., AYLUS Oakland Gardens held its 247th event. We took part in a gardening event at the Olde Town of Flushing Burial Ground in Queens, NY. During the event, we practiced important skills such as teamwork, communication, responsibility, patience, organization, and attention to detail. We also had the chance to work with Maureen Regan, the founder of Green Earth Urban Garden. She taught us how to care for the plants and guided us throughout the activity. Since the garden is located at a historical site, we also had to make sure we treated the area with care and respect.
Around 35 volunteers came together to help take care of the garden. Our main task was removing weeds and other plants that were growing around a purple flower and taking away space that the flower needed. We carefully pulled out the unwanted plants while making sure we did not damage the flowers we were trying to protect. Maureen showed us which plants needed to be removed and explained more about why giving plants enough space is important. Everyone helped each other, which made the work easier and allowed us to get more done.
This experience helped us understand that gardening is more than just pulling out weeds. It takes patience, teamwork, and careful attention because one small mistake could affect a plant you are trying to protect. Working with Maureen was also a great learning experience because she shared her knowledge and showed us how gardening can help improve a community. It was rewarding to see the difference we could make just by spending a few hours taking care of the garden.
Overall, this was a fun and meaningful experience for our team. We were proud that our work helped give the purple flowers more room to grow and made the garden look more cared for. It also showed us how much can be accomplished when people work together toward the same goal. We would like to thank Maureen Regan, the volunteers, organizers, workers, and everyone else who helped make this event possible. We hope to participate in more AYLUS Oakland Gardens gardening and environmental events so we can continue making a positive difference in our community.
Our Volunteers:
1. Hong Hao Liu: 3.5 hours
2. Sophia You: 3.5 hours
3. Iokting Lin: 3.5 hours
4. Albert Tang: 3.5 hours
5. Ricky Song: 3.5 hours
6. Katie Lin: 3.5 hours
7. Nicole Chen#256: 3.5 hours
8. Vicki Lin: 3.5 hours
9. Eric Zheng: 3.5 hours
10. Anthony Xu: 3.5 hours
11. Sophia Xu: 3.5 hours
12. Ryan Zheng: 3.5 hours
13. Kaden He: 3.5 hours
14. Janice Ma: 3.5 hours
15. Nerissa Xu: 3.5 hours
16. Cindy Siegel: 3.5 hours
17. Stephanie You: 3.5 hours
18. Paxton Xu: 3.5 hours
19. Vincent He: 3.5 hours
20. Luke Chen: 3.5 hours
21. Ruolin Gao: 3.5 hours
22. Haoze Gao: 3.5 hours
23. Paipai Xu: 3.5 hours
24. Enda Zheng: 3.5 hours
25. Sophia Gao: 3.5 hours
26. Emerson Lin: 3.5 hours
27. Ioknor Lin: 3.5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Fannie Li: 6 hours
Karen Liao: 6 hours
Faye Liu: 6 hours
Report Written by: Nerissa Xu
