On June 28th, 2026, AYLUS Oakland Gardens held its 235th event, volunteering at Senator John Liu’s America 250 Community Celebration, a free, family-friendly event held at Francis Lewis High School. The event brought together residents from across the city for an afternoon of free food, live music, games, historical activities, and the chance to contribute to a community time capsule. Our members arrived early to help with setup and stayed after the event to assist in cleanup. The event lasted from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and around 50 members showed up to this event.
Upon arrival, our members met with the organizers at the registration tables near the auditorium. From there, members helped set up decorative ribbons and signs both indoors and outside in the courtyard, and blew up red, white, and blue balloons to tie around benches and fences. We also carried out tables, shade structures, chairs, and additional equipment needed for the event.
Members also helped prepare the food that would later be distributed to guests. We brought in boxes of pizza, prepared gallons of lemonade and iced tea, and set out ice and cold water at a free drinks stand in the courtyard. The school cafeteria and kitchen were also set up in advance to prepare for lunch service. Throughout the preparation process, our members worked alongside volunteers from Francis Lewis High School. Senator Liu’s group provided pizza to our volunteers to keep everyone fueled for the day ahead.
After completing the general preparations, our parent advisors gathered all AYLUS Oakland Gardens volunteers into the cafeteria and split them into permanent groups, each assigned a specific task throughout the remainder of the event.
Some members stationed at the front entrance of the school to greet guests and direct them to the registration tables before they entered the auditorium to wait for the speech presentation. A majority of our members remained in the cafeteria, where they organized batches of delivered food into serving lines to provide guests with plates of burgers, hotdogs, fries, corn, beans, watermelon, and cake. Outside in the courtyard, other members maintained the popcorn and cotton candy stations. They operated the machines that had been set up earlier to serve interested guests that lined up. The remaining members managed the carnival games, which included Hit the Cans, Ring Toss, Tetris Tumble, and several others. Winners received small prizes such as stickers and keychains.
From 1 PM to 5 PM, guests arrived and checked in at the registration tables before making their way to the auditorium. They then heard remarks from Senator Liu’s office and other elected officials, along with representatives from Francis Lewis High School and Queens Public Library. The program also recognized winners of the student essay contest and the Declaration of Independence Recitation Contest. Afterward, guests moved to the cafeteria to enjoy lunch before heading out to the courtyard, where a lively atmosphere of live music and carnival games awaited them.
After the general event was over, all members stayed behind to help clean up the school. Despite being worn out after a long day, our members took down all decorations and returned the tables and chairs to ensure that the school was left in the same condition as when we arrived.
We would like to extend our thanks to Senator John Liu and his office for organizing this event, as well as the representatives from Francis Lewis High School and Queens Public Library for their collaboration. We are also grateful to our parent advisor team for their continued guidance throughout the event. Finally, we would like to thank all AYLUS Oakland Gardens members who attended this event. Through their hard work and dedication, our branch helped make Senator Liu’s America 250 Community Celebration a memorable and successful event for the community.
Our volunteers:
1. Sophia ShiHan You ：8 hours
2. Hong Hao Liu：8 hours
3. Adrian Jiang ：8 hours
4.Henry Jiang ：8 hours
5. Luke Chen：8 hours
6. Brandon Lin：8 hours
7. Aiden Lin：8 hours
8. Cynthia Shi ：8 hours
9. Peishan Gao ：8 hours
10. Vincent He：8 hours
11. Tsz Ho Feng：8 hours
12. Zimeng Li ：8 hours
13. Nerissa Xu ：8 hours
14.Iokseng Lin ：8 hours
15.Ioklee Lin ：8 hours
16.Ioknor Lin ：8 hours
17. Amanda Wang ：8 hours
18. Fayee Chen ：8 hours
19. Eric Zheng ：8 hours
20. Zhiheng Zhou ：8 hours
21. Stephanie ShiRan You：8 hours
22. Tyrone Li：8 hours
23. Janice Ma ：8 hours
24. Austin Li：8 hours
25.Queenie Qiu ：8 hours
26. Vicki Lin：8 hours
27. Enda Zheng ：8 hours
28. Anthony Xu：8 hours
29. Sophia Xu ：8 hours
30. Justin Qiu：8 hours
31. Jiansheng Chen ：8 hours
32. Alexander Lu：8 hours
33. Sophia Lu：8 hours
34. Paipai Xu ：8 hours
35. Dylan Mak：8 hours
36. Haoze Gao：8 hours
37. Ruolin Gao：8 hours
38. Liam Cheung：8 hours
39. Nathan Jin：8 hours
40. Eric Chen ：8 hours
41. Zhengyilan Fang ：8 hours
42. Yining Chen：8 hours
43. Henry Liu ：8 hours
44. Matthew Lin：8 hours
45. Kaisa Wu：8 hours
46. Steven Zhu：8 hours
47. Samuel Liu：8 hours
48. Ricky Song：8 hours
49.Selena ShiYan You ：8 hours
50. Iokting Lin ：8 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Fannie Li: 8 hours
Karen Liao: 8 hours
Faye Liu: 8 hours
Report Written by: Brandon Lin
