Native Oregonian Ruby Sprengle knows what it’s like to get caught in the rain.
Sprengle, a product design major, said being wet without an umbrella is one of the most uncomfortable feelings. When Sprengle heard the rainy season was approaching in Haiti and millions of people would be without shelter or a dry place to sleep, she cringed. And she wanted to do something about it.
Sprengle said that the American Red Cross is working to supply those in need with shelter by providing tarps, but that there won’t be enough for everyone.
“It seems like such a fixable problem,” Sprengle said. “Everyone needs shelter, after all, it is in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.”
That’s when it dawned on Sprengle that she could help supply more tarps. Thinking back to a project she worked on last summer in a product design class, she had created plastic tarp shelters for homeless people to help keep warm in the winter. She did this by collecting plastic bags, layering them and fusing them together.
It didn’t take long for Sprengle to realize these makeshift shelters could potentially help people in Haiti stay dry and warm.
“I thought about the tarp that I had made to give to homeless people, and that’s when it popped into my head,” Sprengle said. “Eugene is into recycling, and if I get people to help make these, I can make hundreds — I just needed manpower.”
Sprengle has planned several events during finals and over spring break for people to contribute to tarp making and has also set up stations in Eugene to collect plastic bags. Sprengle also plans to go to grocery stores and work with campus recycling to gather as many bags as possible.
Sprengle said getting the bags is the easy part. The struggle is going to be finding enough people to help make the tarps.
“It’s not really the quest for the bags, they are everywhere; it is a matter of getting people,” Sprengle said.
Greg Peterson took the product design class with Sprengle in the summer and plans to help make the tarps. Regardless of how many they are able to make, he thinks they can still make a difference.
“It takes awhile to make one of these utility quilts,” Peterson said. “But once we start
making them, the process will get faster and even if we can only make a few, it will still help out somehow.”
Although right now Sprengle only has the one tarp she made this summer, she plans to gather volunteers to continue making tarps in mass quantities. Right now, Sprengle is conducting tests to see how many layers each tarp needs and how big they will need to be.
“I have to figure out all the logistics, so when I get volunteers, I will know exactly what to do.”
From Target logos, Safeway symbols and colored plastic bags, Sprengle plans to make the tarps as aesthetically pleasing as possible. When Sprengle made her tarp last summer in class, she made a map of Portland on the tarp and plotted all the places where the homeless could go for help, shelter and food.
“I want to come up with a logo, maybe something with the U of O, letting them know where the tarps are coming from,” Sprengle said. “I am getting so many bags, and I want to make quilt patterns with different colors to make the destructed landscape in Haiti appear more beautiful.”
Sprengle said she hopes that people in Haiti will come together to use the tarps and encourage people to share them and build a sheltered community. Sprengle believes this will be a temporary way to help those without shelter in Haiti get through the rainy
season while the country is in the process of clearing destruction and rebuilding.
For Sprengle, the idea of creating something to help people who are less fortunate is the reason why she is a product design major.
Sprengle plans to take her product design knowledge and incorporate a human factor in her design ideas. She said she wants to design products for people who really need it.
“Only 10 percent of the world is actually being designed for,” Sprengle said. “I hope that after school I can travel to other countries and design things for communities that need help. I want to design things for people who are a part of that 90 percent of the world that aren’t being designed for.”
Lindsey Walsh, University alumna and friend of Sprengle, said she admires Sprengle’s dedication to Haiti’s cause.
“It is really inspiring to see someone as busy as Ruby taking the initiative to help people in need,” Walsh said. “Not only are these tarps environmentally friendly, functional and practical, they will give hope to many people struggling to rebuild their lives.”
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Design for a cause: creating tarps for Haiti
Daily Emerald
March 3, 2010
Kevin Minderhout
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