On the Saturday of October 4th, from 8:00 am-12:30 pm, members of the AYLUS Roslyn Branch helped organize the first OPA (Ohana Paddling Association) Dragon Boat Festival at North Hempstead Beach Park. We strive to promote cultural awareness and improve diversity inclusion within the community by facilitating our constituent’s involvement through education and community service.The partnership with various organizations allowed this possible. Some of them include GRACE (Greater Roslyn Association of Chinese Enrichment, the Chinese American Association of East Williston, CAANH, Chinese Center on Long Island, Chinese Cultural Association of Long Island & Chinese School, and much more. All of these organizations strive for the encouragement of Chinese culture and tradition amongst the people of Long Island.
In these couple of hours, we made sure that the participants of the race could easily make it to their races on time. We handed out paddles and life jackets to them and made sure they returned them. On the bay, we stabilize the boats for the racers to get on and off of while also bailing water out of the boat to insure a safe race. Each person had to be attentive and organized to have the shift between races go smoothly. Aside from the volunteering it was interesting watching how each team had a different way of hyping up each other and how so many people of different backgrounds can come together to create such a lively event. Especially in the afternoon races there was a wall of paddles forming in front of the Marshalling tent. As each contestant can back from the bay they would each contribute their paddles to this growing trail. This created a memorable experience for people and many had photos taken with it. From this experience we were able to understand that each team had their ups and downs. They ultimately all had a great time.
Members who participated include: Tiffany Chen(4.5 hours), Connor Chan(4.5 hours), Kristen Zheng(4.5 hours)
Reporter: Tiffany Chen