Last Service Day, half of the tenth grade went to AFYA’s warehouse in Yonkers. We were given a quantity of no longer needed medical supplies and sorted the supplies into what was still usable and what was not, taking into account packaging and expiration dates. The usable supplies will be sent to various parts of the world in which medical aid is needed but often inadequate due to low resources.
I had not previously considered the amount of medical supplies that may be wasted simply because of inefficiencies in our own hospitals. I therefore found it enlightening to see just how much of what was discarded was still usable and needed around the world. However, I would have liked to learn more about where our particular medical supplies were being sent, which I think would have given us a better connection to the purpose of the activity. I look forward to learning about more ignored or neglected issues during my future at Friends.