AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch’s 130th event was at Kissena Park on November 10th, 2024, and volunteers, instructed by Roxana, the supervisor of the park, and Ada, helped beautify the park. Members raked leaves, redistributed soil into fenced areas, weeded invasive species, and cleared branches from 9AM-12PM.
To ensure the safety of AYLUS members and the other people in the park, the area was first cordoned off with caution tape. Then, before the tools were distributed, all members were warned to use the tools in a safe manner and to not fool around with them. Roxana led us to the edge of Kissena Lake, which was fenced, and told us about the invasive plants that we had to weed within the area. The first one was the English Ivy, which is a really common invasive species that we have seen in other parks. It tends to grow around trees and smaller plants, which causes competition and a decrease of resources. However, because it grows really fast, it took a longer time for high schoolers to cut and pull them with loppers and their hands. The second plant was the Rosa Multiflora. It grows in thickets, which makes it harder for other plants to grow in the area. Its thorns can also harm nearby animal wildlife, driving them away from the park. Because of its prickly nature, Roxana told the older members to use small saws to unroot it.
While some members were weeding, others were also clearing piles of large branches and putting them onto the truck. Larger branches had to be carefully sawed and broken into smaller pieces to ensure that nothing flies out when the truck is driving. There was also another group that was raking the leaves along the fence. They were able to work both quickly and efficiently, packing a total of twenty-six bags. After the leaves were cleared, the debris soil left underneath was shoveled back into the fenced area to promote more plant growth.
We would like to thank Roxana and Ada for always guiding us in these educational events and teaching us to be more aware of the positive environmental impact that we can make. We would also like to thank all the AYLUS Oakland Gardens members for working hard and helping their community.
Our volunteers:
Sophia ShiHan You：3 hours
Stephanie ShiRan You：3 hours
Alana Lin：3 hours
Elina Lee ：3 hours
Justin Cheong ：3 hours
Ian Lee：3 hours
Yifei Mei：3 hours
Luke Chen: 3 hours
Michelle Song：3 hours
Tiffany Pan：3 hours
Kaisa Wu：3 hours
Vicki Lin：3 hours
Bowen Chen：3 hours
Shirley Chiu：3 hours
Karis Lau：3 hours
Hong Hao Liu：3 hours
Jia Qi Liu：3 hours
Junlong Mei：3 hours
Albert Tang：3 hours
Emerson Chen: 3 hours
Iokseng Lin：3 hours
Ioklee Lin：3 hours
Ioknor Lin：3 hours
Paxton Xu: 3 hours
Nerissa Xu: 3 hours
Yiming Chen: 3 hours
Alexander Lu: 3 hours
Sophia Lu: 3 hours
Eric Zheng: 3 hours
Sophia Lin: 3 hours
Mandy Lin: 3 hours
Leon Chen: 3 hours
Amber Tsai: 3 hours
Opal Tsai: 3 hours
Evan Li: 3 hours
Shizhen Li: 3 hours
Shihao Li: 3 hours
Tianxiang Ding : 3 hours
Tiffany Nhu: 3 hours
Vicky Liu: 3 hours
Ryan Wu: 3 hours
Ivan Cao: 3 hours
Yuan Gu: 3 hours
Evelyn Yuan: 3 hours
Lucas Yuan: 3 hours
Eason Lin: 3 hours
Ricky Song: 3 hours
Anthony Lin: 2.5 hours
Hannah Liu: 2.5 hours
Darren Li: 2.5 hours
Austin Li: 2.5 hours
Iokting Lin:2 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Teng Fei Liu: 4 hours
Hsinhui Liao: 4 hours
Cui Fang Li: 4 hours
Report Written by: Iokseng Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
