On Sunday, October 4, from 11:00 to 5:00, AYLUS Roslyn Branch volunteered at the Nassau County Mid-Autumn Festival event at Eisenhower Park where volunteers helped children make and receive their own lanterns. We partnered with GRACE and Nassau County Office of Asian American Affairs for the event.
The volunteer event was divided into two shifts. The 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM shift with Ella Hu and Connor Chan. The afternoon shift from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM included Elena Lin, Olivia Lin, and Austin Guo. AYLUS also had a fundraising event as well. The purpose of the activity was to give children an opportunity to create their own lanterns and make the festival more meaningful and interactive for them. During the volunteer event, our main responsibility was helping build and give out lanterns to children. We prepared the lanterns and gave them to kids so they could decorate them however they wanted. They could also write something on their lantern, such as a wish, a message, or something meaningful to them. After the shows and performances ended after 5:00 PM, the children and their families could take their lanterns and walk by the water. They could then let their lanterns float away as part of the festival experience. This gave the children a chance to see their lanterns become part of the larger celebration rather than simply taking them home. The skills we needed to be successful at this event were the ability to communicate efficiently and intelligently with others and how to be hospitable to guests so they can feel welcome and enjoy themselves at the event.
During the duration, we saw children and families participating in the festival and getting excited about making their own lanterns. The activity allowed the children to be creative because there was not just one correct way to decorate or personalize a lantern. Each child could make their lantern different and add their own message or wish. The challenge we faced was the heavy rain in the afternoon, since it had lowered the crowd we had initially, but we still persevered and overcame the weather by continuing to draw in customers and people at the event, making sure they had a good time and so did we. Since there were different people working during the two shifts, we had to make sure that the work continued smoothly from one group of volunteers to the next. Working together made it easier to prepare the lanterns and help the children who came to participate. In this event, allowing children to create their own lanterns made the cultural tradition more interactive and helped introduce younger generations to the meaning behind the celebration. We learned that by helping to create fun and enticing experiences not only make it memorable for the people that have come, but for us we learned new skills for communicating and enjoyed giving these experiences to people. We hope in the future we can give many more remarkable experiences for others to enjoy and have fun.Reporter: Connor Chan
Members who participated:
Ella Hu (3 hours), Connor Chan (4 hours), Elena Lin (3 hours), Olivia Lin (3 hours), Austin Guo (3 hours)
Ella Hu (3 hours), Connor Chan (4 hours), Elena Lin (3 hours), Olivia Lin (3 hours), Austin Guo (3 hours)
