On Saturday April 27, Texas A&M student organization BUILD held a ceremony celebrating the groundbreaking of a permanent structure to house the organization’s construction projects. BUILD is a student led organization aimed at unifying Texas A&M’s student body with an overarching goal to design, construct and deploy Texas Aggie Medical Clinics which are crafted from shipping containers.

BUILD has constructed 47 medical clinics dispersed across 22 countries, with eight serving Texas. Most BUILD clinics can treat between 30 and 50 patients each day. Each clinic has medical equipment and three patient rooms, allowing multiple patients to be seen at a time.

For the past 10 years, the student organization has operated out of the current site, which is about 16,000 square feet. Each construction cycle, around 2,000 student volunteers from all corners of campus converge at the site to lend a helping hand in the construction of the clinics. The new permanent structure will be 32,000 square feet of paved and covered work areas. The increase in square footage alone will increase capacity from BUILD’s current four to five clinics to 10.

"Overall, this structure will improve the experience of everyone involved with our project, including volunteers, student supervisors, command team members, advisors, and even potential donors or NGOs who come to see our construction process,” Ian Wiechers, BUILD Chief Operating Officer, said during remarks at the ceremony.

The increased capacity will allow BUILD to seek new challenges in future semesters by building more clinics in a single semester or creating clinics in both the fall and spring semesters. Either way, the new structure will allow BUILD to increase its already massive impact on the world. “The clinics are helping those who didn’t even know they needed help,” Kody Villarreal, BUILD CFO said. “They are saving the lives of those who didn’t know they needed saving.”

From diagnosing patients with heart disease to performing the life-saving surgeries to treat them, BUILD medical clinics are providing access to medical care all over the globe. The permanent structure will only boost BUILD’s ability unite Aggies through the common goal of doing good.

Read more about BUILD’s mission and projects on the organization’s website. To help the organization continue it's mission of selfless service, you can give through the Texas A&M Foundation website or contact Reagan Chessher at [email protected] or 979-458-1689.