AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch’s Little Bay Park Cleanup and First Award Ceremony (06/27/2024)

In honor of all the hard work of their members, AYLUS Oakland Gardens hosted an award ceremony in Little Bay Park on June 27th, 2024. Presenting the President’s Volunteer Service Award was New York State Senator for District 16, John C. Liu, who was also a member of the Bayside community. He attended New York City public schools including Hunter College High School and the Bronx High School of Science. Now a professor who teaches finance at Columbia University once a week and appointed to a position where he can give back to his community, Senator Liu shows the importance of stepping up and becoming a leader in such a tight-knit community.

We first started off with cleaning the beach. Our members spilt into groups, spreading out along the shore to maximize our efforts of cleaning the beach. After a while, we had a break for our award ceremony. Due to the efforts of our parent advisor Hsinhui Liao, Karen, our senator John Liu came to the ceremony to give our members a speech as well as presenting the awards.

“Part of what makes our community better right here in Northeast Queens is the fact that we have some of the most beautiful parks in the entire city,” he said, “and you are helping to keep those parks as beautiful and as wonderful as they are.”

Although this was the first year that the branch applied for the prestigious award, Senator Liu also awarded 17 volunteers, who had received bronze, silver, and gold medals, with a Certificate of Recognition on behalf of the New York State Senate. To conclude the ceremony, Senator Liu encouraged all members to express gratitude to their parents for helping and supporting their paths to becoming a leader. While it may seem as if volunteering is all work and low reward, “you know you made a difference. That is the greatest reward that you as volunteers and therefore as leaders can gain.”

After the ceremony ended, all volunteers continued to clean up the beach of Little Bay Park using trash pickers, rakes, and trash bags. Milk cartons, one croc, and plastic containers were tangled up among plastic bags and seaweed. A crab was even found dead by one of our members. Even though it was the third time the branch has volunteered at Little Bay Park, more work has to be put in before the park can truly be back to its pristine, natural form, teaching AYLUS members an important lesson: trash as small as a bottle cap can consolidate and make it more difficult to clean.

Thank you to Senator Liu for coming to the event, presenting awards, and making some wise remarks about leadership. Thank you to Mei Hua Ru, Operations Director, Senator Liu’s secretary, and parent advisor Karen who helped organize this event. Congratulations to all members who received awards and good luck to everyone next year!

 

Our Volunteers:

Jia Qi Liu: 3 hours

Hong Hao Liu: 3 hours

Stephanie ShiRan You: 3 hours

Junzhe Ling: 3 hours

Yuxin Liu: 3 hours

Rex He: 3 hours

Bowen Chen: 3 hours

Alex Lu: 3 hours

Sophia ShiHan You: 3 hours

Anthony Lin: 3 hours

Ricky Song: 3 hours

Karis Yan-Tung Lau: 3 hours

XiLin Huang: 3 hours

Shirley Chiu: 3 hours

Ioklee Lin: 3 hours

Iokseng Lin: 3 hours

Ioknor Lin: 3 hours

Iokting Lin: 3 hours

Vicki Lin: 3 hours

Tyler Siegel: 3 hours

Cindy Siegel: 3 hours

Liam Cheung: 3 hours

Sophia Gao: 3 hours

Derrick Gao: 3 hours

Sabrina Gao: 3 hours

Shi Hao Li: 3 hours

Shi Zhen Li: 3 hours

Tian Xiang Ding: 3 hours

Blake Han: 3 hours

Sophia Li: 3 hours

Eric Zheng: 3 hours

Melody Ke: 3 hours

Songen Yang: 3 hours

Yuan Gu: 3 hours

Jasmine Lin: 3 hours

Ethan Lin: 3 hours

Patrick Guan: 3 hours

Victor Tu: 3 hours

Ryan Wu: 3 hours

Aiden Lin: 3 hours

Brandon Lin: 3 hours

Mandy Lin: 3 hours

Evaline Yuel: 3 hours

Austin Yuel: 3 hours

Darren Li: 3 hours

Austin Li: 3 hours

Darren Wu: 3 hours

Sophia Lin: 3 hours

Jiaheng Yu: 3 hours

Amy Liu: 3 hours

Elina Lee: 3 hours

Ian Lee: 3 hours

Albert Tang: 3 hours

Ziheng Jiao: 3 hours

Patrick Yeung: 2.5 hours

Benny Yeung: 2.5 hours

Evina Liu: 2 hours

 

Parent Adviser Team:

Cui Fang Li (Fannie): 6.5 hours

Teng Fei Liu (Faye): 6.5 hours

Hsinhui Liao (Karen): 6.5 hours

 

Report written by: Iokseng Lin

Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu

 

Updated: July 3, 2024 — 2:42 am

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