The school’s financial secretary, Christi Wilson, has been taking annual trips to Jamaica since high school, but what started as a vacation soon turned into an opportunity to give to children less fortunate.

Wilson’s trips there began when her best friend from high school, Leigh Anne Mayneir Geiter, invited her to her family’s home Cave, Westmoreland, Jamaica. It quickly became a tradition in their friendship.

“I just fell in love with Jamaica,” Wilson said. “We started going every year and we got to know the people that were in the town of Cave.”

Years later, another high school friend of Wilson and Geiter, Rick Burchfield, expressed his desire to provide for a local school in Cave. Geiter planned a trip with Burchfield to Jamaica, and soon after, the Cave School Project was founded in order to provide for the Cave Early Childhood Institution.

“He said he had a calling,” Wilson said of Burchfield. “He felt like he needed to do something more for somebody else.”

Since then, Burchfield and his friends and family have been donating to the school. Childhood education in Jamaica must be paid for by the parents of the child, so sending a child to school can be a hefty price to pay.

“People around Houston, where Ricky lives, my friends and family, and Leigh Anne’s friends and family, all donate stuff and cash,” Wilson said. “Everytime we fly down, we all fly with at least two suitcases filled with stuff.”

Important expenses, such as books, clothing, shoes, food, and more, have been provided to the sixty children of the school via these donations.

“We had a meeting with the school board and asked about what they needed,” Wilson said. “Ricky made it happen.”

Through the Cave School Project, necessities like a playground, a library, fans, t.v.s, plumbing, and air conditioning have been provided for the children.

“The kids are just so thankful,” Wilson said. “We happened to be down there having a party for the kids when the electric company came and we were watching them hook the power up to the school and everyone was so excited.”

The participants of the Cave School Project make sure to stay in touch with the school board to ensure that the kids needs are being met and they continue to regularly visit the school.

“We have meetings with the school board to see if they’re happy and buy what is needed,” Wilson said. “It needs to be 100 percent commitment because can’t donate five thousand dollars, and when it runs out, leave them high and dry.”

The project’s facebook page states that they still have more additions planned for the school. They want to continue the project and donate educational DVDs, hands-on materials, more books, and musical instruments.

Wilson said that if she has an extra hundred dollars or more to spare, she has no problem with it going towards a child’s education.

“Seeing the smiles on their faces; there’s nothing like that in the world,” Wilson said. “Seeing what we have and take for granted [is] ridiculous, but I’m guilty of it too.”

Wilson and her friends have a strong passion for helping others and are glad to have the school and its children in their lives.

“I don’t know if I’m being selfish because it makes me feel good inside,” Wilson said. “It just makes my heart swell.”