When Christina and I met in the Fall of 1999 she was battling thyroid cancer and had just undergone surgery to have it removed. Screenings over the following 3 years found residual cancer that had to be treated with radiation, not a pretty time.  With faith and the prayers of many, we new she would beat it. In the spring of 2004, while waiting for her fourth cancer screening in as many years, we decided to have faith that she had been healed and made reservations to travel to Jamaica to be married on the beach in November. Christina's screening finally came and we got the news that we wanted to hear "the cancer is gone".

Jim & Christina Dalton

Shortly after this we did a web search of Negril, Jamaica. Thinking we would find information about restaurants, night life, etc. etc., we were surprised when a website named "Friends of Torrington" popped up first on the page. Intrigued, we clicked on the link. Once there, we saw pictures of the children and school, and read stories from others who had been there. Knowing that our prayers had just been answered, we took it as a clear sign that we needed to give back for the blessings we had been given. So we took the money we received as wedding gifts and bought school supplies with it, and made arrangements to visit the school. Little did we know how much our lives were about to change. 

Arriving just six weeks after Hurricane Ivan, we were amazed by the spirit of the people. Even though there had been massive destruction, everything was cleaned up and life was pretty much back to normal. When we arrived at Torrington we were met with smiles, despite the hardships. It changed our entire perspective of life as we knew it. There's a saying in Jamaica " once you go, you know". Well after this trip "we knew".

As a result of this experience, We are committed to doing everything we can to improve educational opportunities for these, and many other Jamaican children. Helping them realize their full potential. 

One Love,

Jim & Christina Dalton