High School Students Build Medical Clinic to Serve Urban Poor
Louisville, CO (PRWEB) May 14, 2014 -- Homes of Living Hope (http://www.homesoflivinghope.org), a non-profit that provides the framework for converting used shipping containers into functioning facilities, has partnered with the students of Louisville, CO-based Monarch High School (http://schools.bvsd.org/p12/monarchhigh/pages/default.aspx) to retrofit an 8’x8’x40’ shipping container into a standalone clinic that will provide basic medical and dental services to the urban poor living in slums outside Mexico City.
About 30 Monarch High School students are involved with this effort, including students from the Architecture and Industrial Design class, the Robotics Club, Student Council and the Art Club. “Our goal is to strengthen communities by building relationships through the teamwork required to support a worthy cause,” said Bart Wear, Homes of Living Hope director. “We’re extremely proud to be partnering with our hometown high school on this project.”
“This is a fantastic opportunity for my students,” said David Clark, design and engineering teacher at Monarch High School. “This is a real-world project for them. They take what they learn in the classroom, apply it, and know it will actually impact someone’s life.”
Students from Clark’s Architecture and Industrial Design class used architectural design software to configure the container’s interior. The space will be divided into separate areas for a medical examination room, dental office, clinic office and pharmacy. Students, faculty and adult volunteers are working together to frame and finish the interior of the clinic. The exterior will be painted with an original design created by the school’s Art Club members.
The Architecture and Industrial Design class students also created a website for the project: http://davincilab.org/container/index.php.
Once complete, the container will be loaded with donated medical and dental equipment and supplies. “We expect more people from the community to get involved as we begin collecting donated supplies to fill the container,” Wear added. “Ultimately, this project will connect hundreds of people in the greater Louisville area through volunteer opportunities in construction, solicitation of supplies, logistics, power/energy generation, administration, international relations and fundraising.”
The project has several business sponsors: Lampson International donated the empty shipping container. Home Depot donated construction supplies. Lighthouse Solar donated solar panel and installation support to make the finished container energy self-sufficient. Boulder County Resource Conservation Division donated doors for the facility.
The construction portion of this project will be completed by the end of the school year. Medical, dental and other supplies will be collected this summer and fall. The completed container is expected to be transported to Mexico City in fall 2014 where it will then be managed by ConeXión Mosaico (http://conexionmosaico.net/).
About Homes of Living Hope
Founded in 2006, Homes of Living Hope is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides the framework for converting used shipping containers into functioning facilities to be used internationally as clinics, schools and housing for under-resourced communities. The organization partners with volunteer groups throughout the U.S. who locally retrofit used shipping containers before transporting completed facilities to partnering aid groups in communities around the globe.
The mission of Homes of Living Hope is to connect communities through service. Their projects enable large numbers of volunteers to help as little, or as much, as they are able. Each converted container can connect up to 1,000 people throughout a community, offering volunteer opportunities in the areas of construction, logistics, power/energy generation, administration, international relations, fundraising and solicitation of supplies. Homes of Living Hope strives to strengthen communities by building relationships through the teamwork necessary to support a worthy cause. For more information, visit http://www.homesoflivinghope.org.
Bart Wear, Homes of Living Hope, http://www.homesoflivinghope.org/, +1 303.898.2400, [email protected]
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