Doc to Dock Service Project 5/26

We woke up to rain, wind and some unseasonably cold temperatures. That didnt stop us though. We made the trek from Long Beach into Brooklyn and met up with students from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School. We walked to 300 Douglass Street in Brooklyn and volunteered with an organization called Doc to Dock. Doc to Dock is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to improving the health and lives of people in Africa by providing healthcare workers with the tools they need. It is estimated that in the United States thousands of tons of medical supplies are discarded every day due to overproduction, procedural excess and regulatory requirements. This surplus of medical materials is either incinerated or deposited in landfills, both of which are harmful to the environment. Doc to Dock strives to reverse this cycle of waste by collecting the unused medical supplies from New York hospitals and shipping them to hospitals and clinics in need in Africa.
We spent our time at Doc to Dock organizing supplies and preparing palettes in order to be shipped to Africa. It was crazy to hear how many medical supplies in America are thrown away each year that are perfectly fine. It was truly awesome to know that we were having an impact on a community in need across the globe. It was a great day of service with the students of Bishop Louglin. To see other young people giving of their time after school was inspiring to the Call to Serve team. If you have a moment, click here to watch a short video on the Doc to Dock organization.

We Are Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

Before Adam and I left to embark on The Call to Serve’s first mission trip, my mom and I were talking about the Archbishop Oscar Romero.  We talked about the way he put total trust in the Lord and the impact he had in Central America, and on a larger scale the entire Catholic Church community.  We were able to relate much of what Archbishop Romero believed about our role as Christians to The Call to Serve.  We realize that God has a plan for The Call to Serve and that he is the master builder, we are his workers…    

 

We Are Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

 

It helps, now and then, to step

back and take the long view.

The Kingdom is not only

beyond our efforts,

it is beyond our vision.

 

We accomplish in our lifetime

only a tiny fraction

of the magnificent enterprise

that is God’s work.

 

We plant seeds that

one day will grow.

planted, knowing that

they hold future promise.

 

We cannot do everything

and there is a sense of liberation

in realizing that.

This enables us to do something,

and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a

beginning, a step along the way,

an opportunity for God’s grace

to enter and do the rest.

 

We may never see the end results,

but that is the difference between

the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master

builders, ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

 

-Attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero