On Thursday, April 2nd, 2026, from 3:45 to 6:45, members of the AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch volunteered at Fort Totten for their 219th event. Jessica Ugalde, the Project Development Coordinator, led the volunteers in today’s event, and she guided them in an event dedicated to making the park’s playground safer for the community.
Upon arrival, members immediately noticed a big pile of a mulch-like substance near the playground, but Jessica quickly informed them that it was actually fibar. Fibar is a specialized kind of mulch commonly used in projects like these, especially because it provides high-impact absorption that helps reduce injury from falls. In fact, many of the playground’s equipment consisted of slides, monkey bars, and climbing structures, but their base supports were not sufficiently covered by the fibar. In order to address this issue, members were instructed to spread and layer the material until it reached a level that would properly cushion children as they landed, instead of allowing them to fall directly onto the ground.
Members initially split themselves into groups, with one spreading the fibar on the playground, another bringing it back and forth using wheelbarrows, and a last one filling the wheelbarrows from the pile. Although this method was somewhat successful, it was not the most efficient way to accomplish this project. Therefore, Jessica arranged for a front loader to directly transport fibar from the pile to the playground. This made the whole process quicker because it allowed members to focus on spreading the mulch.
We would like to thank Jessica Ugalde for organizing and hosting this event, as well as for generously providing our members with water. Additionally, we would like to thank the volunteers who participated in today’s event not only for working diligently throughout the whole three hours of the event, but also for taking the time out of their first day of Spring Break to give back to the community.
Our Volunteers:
1. Jia Qi Liu (Angela): 3 hours
2. Hong Hao Liu (Alfred) : 3 hours
3. Sophia ShiHan You : 3 hours
4. Stephanie ShiRan You : 3 hours
5. Selena ShiYan You : 3 hours
6. Anthony Xu : 3 hours
7. Sophia Xu : 3 hours
8. Yue Yu : 3 hours
9. Teng Yu : 3 hours
10. Fayee Chen : 3 hours
11. Tyrone Li : 3 hours
12. Enda Zheng : 3 hours
13. Vincent He : 3 hours
14. Austin Li : 3 hours
15. Amanda Wang : 3 hours
16. Peishan Gao : 3 hours
17. Zimeng Li : 3 hours
18. Ziqi Liu : 3 hours
19. Iokseng Lin : 3 hours
20. Iokting Lin : 3 hours
21. Jierui Liu : 3 hours
22. Nathan Jin : 3 hours
23. Vicki Lin : 3 hours
24. Ricky Song : 3 hours
25. Ryan Wu : 3 hours
26. Linan Cao : 3 hours
27. Dylan Chen : 3 hours
28. Nuoyan Chen : 3 hours
29. Nuo Heng Chen : 3 hours
30. Albert Tang : 3 hours
31. Tian Zhu Xie : 3 hours
32. Ruolin Gao : 3 hours
33. Haoze Gao : 3 hours
34. Amy Liu : 3 hours
35. Tiffany Nhu : 3 hours
36. Elina Lee : 3 hours
37. Ian Lee : 3 hours
38. Yuyan Fan : 3 hours
39. Yining Chen : 3 hours
40. Matthew Lin : 3 hours
41. Ioklee Lin : 2 hours
42. Ioknor Lin : 2 hours
Parent Advisor Team:
Fannie Li: 4 hours
Karen Liao: 4 hours
Faye Liu: 4 hours
Report Written by: Iokseng Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
