Herriman High students hoping to send 1,000 tents to Haiti

HERRIMAN, Utah — It’s been nearly two months since a 7.2-earthquake rocked the island nation of Haiti.

For most of us, it may be old news, but for a group of Utah high school students, it’s all they can think about.

As KSL’s Tamara Vaifanua shows us, they have one classmate to thank for their newfound passion to send help to those who are still cleaning up.

“I remember everything that happened,” said Ashinti St. Clair.

Ashinti was 7 years old when the massive earthquake destroyed her home and hundreds of thousands of others in Haiti.

Her family was left homeless for weeks, living in a car dealership.

“We really didn’t have tents, nothing,” she said. “We just slept, literally on the floor, just covered for us, and I remember like a tent would have been something we really appreciated back then.”

Now a student at Herriman High School, Ashinti is sponsoring a project to send tents to her home country, that’s still recovering from another massive quake two months ago.

“It will go to families that are literally living on the streets right now with nothing over their head,” she said.

With the help of her classmates, she hopes to collect 1,000 new tents before November.

“Right now, it’s raining season in Haiti, and they have to suffer like rain, wind, and all that stuff, without like, any kind of protection,” said Sofia Ampugiarroyo.

“I just try to think, like, how it would feel to go home and have no house,” said Clark Fiedler.

Ashinti’s experience as a child now brings a new perspective to her friends here in Utah and a desire to do more.

“It’s a lot different hearing it from an actual person than on the news,” said Clark.

“I am from Mexico, myself, and I know what it’s like to, like, feel injustice and not having like the opportunity to do nothing. And being here and having the chance of doing a change is just amazing, and it motivates you to do, like, something more for the community,” said Sofia.

“I knew what help people needed and I figured I could be in a place to help,” said Ashinti.

Ashinti’s group has teamed up with Cucina’s restaurant in downtown Salt Lake, which will provide free meals to people who purchase a test for their cause.

They also have an Amazon registry with tents anyone can purchase, many of which are less than $25.