I volunteered for Native Plant Nursery at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Thousand Oaks, California. The service included transplanting seedlings, watering and fertilizing the plants, aiming to grow 30,000 plants for local restoration. I helped with seedling transplanting; to separate the seedlings, I gently pulled their roots off the soil and planted one plant in each smaller pot with a rich soil mix. Then, I put the pots into a bigger tray and transported them to a nursery where the seedlings would further grow and later be planted in the community parks to promote local plant diversity. My volunteer work allows me to achieve my goal of protecting the community resources. Local plants play critical roles in keeping the ecosystem balanced, and they are more accustomed to California’s droughts and will help the community achieve biodiversity and prosperity. My volunteer work also allowed me to contribute to the National Park Service efforts to engage citizens in alleviating climate change and its negative effects on the ecosystem. The work also brought more enjoyment to the local citizens and visitors because they would have the opportunity to see more local plants that represent Southern California.

Volunteered and helped raised $558,000 for Type 1 diabetes (T1D) Research; Assisted the JDRF staffs to provide services by holding up the bidding board and answering questions the event host asked about T1D.