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Foam Roof On Our Medical Clinic
On our two-acre ministry center in the middle of the super-poor community of Armenia Bonito we are building a medical clinic. This clinic will serve the 3,000 residents of the community on the outskirts of La Ceiba, Honduras. In an effort to serve as good stewards of the tens of thousands of dollars God has sent us to build this clinic we are trying find ways to reduce costs wherever we can.
Our teammate John has lots of experience in construction and regularly offers up out-of-the-box ways to maximize our resources. One of John’s most recent brainstorms was to insert foam blocks into the pouring of the concrete roof on the clinic we are building in Armenia Bonito. We placed 120 pieces of foam block that are 3 in. x 2 ft. x 4 ft. into the concrete roof. That is about 1000 sq. ft. of foam. For starters we used one truckload (about 8 cu. yds.) of 
concrete less and saved about $700 in the construction costs of the roof.
The real savings comes over the lifetime of the clinic. The roof over our clinic is about 32,000 lbs lighter than it would have been without the foam. That will reduce on the wear and tear of the building and lesson the cost of repairs. The foam will greatly insulate the building. This is very important in a region where we regularly see days that are 95 degrees temperature and 95 percent humidity. The foam could provide us 
with enough insulation that we may not need to install air-conditioning units to cool the inside of the building. Small little fans in each room may be sufficient to cool the clinic. This could save $100 per month in electricity costs alone. That type of savings is important to the longevity of this ministry.
This clinic will indeed serve the poor and needy as we are commanded to do (Proverbs 3:27, 1 Corinthians 10:24, Deuteronomy 15:7). But, if we are good stewards with God’s resources, as we are also commanded (1 Corinthians 4:1-2, Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 12:42-44), we will be able to serve even more people, for less money, for a longer period of time.
