On Saturday, April 18, 2025, AYLUS Oakland Gardens held their 222nd event at 233 – 20 Northern Boulevard, Doglaston. This event took place from 8:45 am to 12.15 pm. AYLUS Oakland Gardens worked with Stewardship to help plant trees and shrubs at Alley Pond Park Forest Restoration.
We were first introduced to Claire and Rebecca. They were the site captains, and they helped make sure that everything ran smoothly during the event. Before the event started, Claire talked about some safety tips for avoiding ticks during the event. Claire advised members to wear their socks over their pants. This way, tic would crawl into members’ clothes. She also informed members to be more careful since there would be some poison ivy at the tree planting site we were working in.
Then Claire helped split AYLUS Oakland Gardens into 4 different groups to distribute the work more evenly. Each group was taught how to plant the trees and shrubs in the site. Members first had to make sure the plant fit inside the premade hole, then slowly remove the plant from the pot without disturbing the roots. Members also have to make sure the plant isn’t too deep inside because it could suffocate the plant and cause it to die. These shrubs and trees are important because once they are fully grown, they will form a dense forest and form a habitat for the animals living in the area.
Members work in even smaller groups of 2 to 3 people to plant each tree and shrub. They communicate with each other on what role they will do. One challenge that members had to face was ensuring the plant was secure in the ground and won’t be easily washed away, but they also had to make sure the plant wasn’t planted too deep into the ground. Through clear communication and teamwork AYLUS Oakland Gardens was able to plant 432 trees and shrubs at the plantain site.
Through this hard work we would like to thank Claire and Rebecca for watching over the event to make sure that it ran smoothly. Next we would like to thank Carla, Victoria, Matt, Vivian, Sebastian, Igor, Christopher, Maise, Timur, and Connor from the Stewardship for teaching the members on how to plant the trees and shrubs correctly, while also ensuring that no got hurt during the event. Lastly we would like to thank all the volunteers who came to the event and support the goal in the forest restoration project.
Our Volunteers:
1. Jia Qi Liu (Angela): 3.5 hours
2. Stephanie You : 3.5 hours
3. Vicki Lin : 3.5 hours
4. Tiffany Kong : 3.5 hours
5. Nerissa Xu : 3.5 hours
6. Paxton Xu : 3.5 hours
7. Kevin Huang : 3.5 hours
8. Janice Ma : 3.5 hours
9. Nicky Wong : 3.5 hours
10. Kaisa Wu : 3.5 hours
11. Ricky Song : 3.5 hours
12. Honglei Luo : 3.5 hours
13. Vincent He : 3.5 hours
14. Enda Zheng : 3.5 hours
15. Eric Zheng : 3.5 hours
16. Kaden He : 3.5 hours
17. Maggie Liu : 3.5 hours
18. Katrina Zhang : 3.5 hours
19. Kaitlyn Zhang : 3.5 hours
20. Leon Chen : 3.5 hours
21. Yilin Peng : 3.5 hours
22. Linke Peng : 3.5 hours
23. Ryan Zheng : 3.5 hours
24. Ezell Lee : 3.5 hours
25. Ashlee Chen : 3.5 hours
26. Kenny Ou : 3.5 hours
27. Austin Li : 3.5 hours
28. Sophia Xu : 3.5 hours
29. Anthony Xu : 3.5 hours
30. Tyrone Li : 3.5 hours
31. Yue Yu : 3.5 hours
32. Fayee Chen : 3.5 hours
33. Teng Yu : 3.5 hours
34. Ella Tai : 3.5 hours
35. Yining Chen : 3.5 hours
36. Albert Tang : 3.5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Fannie Li: 4.5 hours
Karen Liao: 4.5 hours
Faye Liu: 4.5 hours
Report Written by: Vicki Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
