Status: ALUMNI
On August 25, 2018, three students from South Bay Area, CA founded the forty-second branch for the Alliance of Youth Leaders in the United States (AYLUS): South Bay Area, CA.
Founders:
The founders of the South Bay Area Branch are Gavin Yu, James Huang, and Alan Zhang.
Congratulation to Gavin, James, and Alan of the South Bay Area Branch! Great Job!
Description of the South Bay Area Branch
Our mission is to encourage young people, especially high school students, to take time away from their studies and volunteer for worthwhile work. We expect that doing this kind of voluntary work will become volunteers’ norm with a passion to serve, to teach, to learn, to understand, to respect, to inspire, and to be inspired; We expect that doing this kind of voluntary work will create a world with greater mutual respect and understanding. Volunteers will learn from their chosen projects and the people they meet, and vice versa.
We will develop a wide range of volunteer projects, not only within the bay area, for individuals, organizations, and communities. We welcome potential volunteers. We also welcome approaches from potential partners – schools, hospitals and so on – from across the developing world. We will make sure our volunteers make the most of their experience and leave a lasting, positive impact.
Our slogan is: Diversity and Inclusion!
How Can I Join the Branch?
Anyone interested in joining the South Bay Branch is encouraged to register here. You will be get on our e-mail distribution list as soon as possible. You will be notified of any upcoming volunteer events. Branch members can report volunteer hours and receive recognition of their volunteering efforts. At the end of each reporting period, volunteers who accumulated sufficient service hours are eligible to apply for a certificate for the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) by way of AYLUS.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact southbayaylus@gmail.com and we’ll get back to you in weekends!
Branch Leadership
| Position | Name | |
| President | Gavin Yu | gavinyu2003@gmail.com |
| Vice President | James Huang | jhuang2333@gmail.com |
| Secretary | Alan Zhang | alanxuzhang@yahoo.com |
| Advisor | Min (Mindy) Xu | southbayaylus@gmail.com |
Branch Members (Full Roster in Registration Form)
Activities:
In Spring and Summer 2020, AYLUS South Bay Area Branch participated in various local activities to help our community for COVID-19 crisis relief during the coronavirus outbreak. The pictures below showed some of the activities which Gavin Yu participated in:
1) COVID-19 Pandemic donation by making face shields for Kaiser Permanente with other California high school students;
2) COVID-19 Pandemic fund raising and donation for local clinics and senior centers by volunteering teaching online – collaborating with a south bay area teaching team;
3) Supporting our local hospitals front lines battling COVID-19 crisis by offering summer workshops online through non-profit organization STEMBoosts.org and donating the proceeds. The summer workshops can empower young kids through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math for exciting careers of the future.
4) Advocating fighting coronavirus by joining “The Multimedia Contest of the Silver Lining in COVID-19 Pandemic – Hope”, which was reported by local media. Gavin designed and submitted the photography below.
AYLUS South Bay Area Branch continued to support Sacred Heart Community Service Events in year 2020. Giving Back to Society is Important. Too many of us are focused on the ‘struggle’ of our daily lives but in all honesty, we know in our hearts that there are people in our communities who are living below the bread line and subsisting on a day to day basis. Through the Support Sacred Heart Community Service Event, we are providing some instant relief from poverty and suffering. Moreover, we are also deeply touched as human beings.
In year 2020, Bottle Recycling Program is continued in AYLUS South Bay Area Branch. Recycling of plastics is essential in today’s world. Plastic, being a non-biodegradable material, takes several decades to degrade enough to be reused again. Recycling and chemically treating plastic for reuse are a better means to protect the environment from plastic pollution. We hope our monthly Bottle Recycling Event will benefit our environment and further inspire more people’s environmental awareness.
In 2019 Thanksgiving holiday season, AYLUS South Bay Branch participated the San Jose Holiday Food Box Distribution Events in Sacred Heart Community Service. Working together with over one hundred volunteers in Sand Jose area, we packed Thanksgiving food boxes filled with veggies, bread, and pantry items for 4,200 families.
In 2019 Summer, Gavin Yu participated the Special Needs Child Care program as an international volunteer in Merida, Mexico. Gavin worked with several other international volunteers in the Charity hospital named CRIT Yucatán to support providing daily care, game playing, teaching, singing and movement to children with severe physical and mental disabilities. All of the children, who had been originally abandoned from treatment and care, are from incredibly low house income. It was quite an wonderful adventure for Gavin with a wish to make a difference in the lives of those who are often overlooked.
August 2018 – April 2019 looking back: AYLUS South Bay Area Branch continued efforts on Bottle Recycling Program and Support Sacred Heart Community Service Program. We achieved 14 Bottle Recycling Events and 12 Support Sacred Heart Community Service Events in total. We also participated the Future for Nepal Fundraising Program Events and Supporting Camp Fire Relief Efforts.
From September 2018 to December 2018, AYLUS South Bay Area Branch began to partner with “Sacred Heart Community Service” monthly / bi-weekly, to help free our communities from poverty. We volunteered our time to collect and donate goods monthly. There are lots of great programs which we are interested in, such as Food Pantry (supply of groceries and an assortment of food for homeless customers that requires no preparation or cooking) and Clothes Closet (Families visit the Clothes Closet for high-quality clothing, shoes, accessories, linens, and books that are donated by local community members.) These are all year long events from 2018 forward. More event details are in our monthly AYLUS South Bay Area Branch update emails.
The 2018 Camp Fire is the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. It is also the deadliest wildfire in the United States since the Cloquet fire in 1918. Given the devastating Camp Fire in California, on December 2, 2018, AYLUS South Bay area joined Supporting Camp Fire Relief Efforts, which is a volunteering event initiated by Kids Against Hunger, to prepare food packages to be distributed to town of Paradise and the surrounding communities impacted by the Camp Fire. This help people in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. This is a great opportunity to make a difference in lives of children, youth, and families in the affected areas.
From September 2018, AYLUS South Bay Area Branch participated AYLUS Bottle Recycling Program. We participated this event as monthly / bi-weekly club activities and recycled bottles to nearby recycling center. All bottles of the big five of curbside recycling are included: plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass bottles, paper and steel cans. It is a great way to decease pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emission and make a better world. This is an all year long event in 2018 and going forward. More event details are in our monthly AYLUS South Bay Area Branch update emails.
On August 25 and October 20, 2018, Gavin Yu participated a bakery volunteering event to support Future for Nepal fundraising program. Having spent two weeks on Nepal volunteering teaching in 2018 summer, Gavin was moved not only by the desperate poverty that exists there, but also the depth of kindness and generosity of the Nepali people. To help Future for Nepal fund raise is a great way to continue providing Nepali children with a better education and a safer environment.
