When Hurricane Melissa roared across Jamaica, it stripped hillsides bare, toppled homes, and flattened fruit trees that families rely on for food and income. In the forested community of Cave, residents describe wind “like a tornado with an inner vortex.” The storm left whole houses blown off their stilts, belongings scattered, and no electricity for weeks.
“It doesn’t look like Cave anymore,” said Nadia Washington-Daley, a lecturer at Northern Caribbean University who grew up there. “You can see for miles where once there was forest.”
Families are coping together — sometimes three to a room, sharing food and shelter. One of Nadia’s relatives has a small shop that was looted of food only, a reminder of how suddenly hunger arrived.
Yet hope returned quickly. Within days, Nadia reached out to Trees That Feed Foundation:
“The community is used to living off the land,” she said. “We need to replace the food trees.”
Thanks to compassionate donors, TTFF provided her with 100 breadfruit seedlings. Students from the Department of Biology, Chemistry & Environmental Sciences volunteered to plant them.
Twenty-five students showed up with shovels, smiles, and determination.
They planted the trees in a three-mile basin, surrounded by ponds that will naturally keep the soil moist. The site includes the grounds of a 17th-century Great House and the Cave Youth Club.
After planting all day, students asked: “When are we going back?”
This wasn’t just service — it was education, ecology, and hope in action.
“We’re not just replacing the trees that were lost,” Nadia said. “We are planting more trees than ever were there to begin with.”
In three years, these trees will begin producing. In five years, Nadia imagines roadside stalls, roasting breadfruit over coals, families dining together, and the canopy returning.
“To know that many generations will benefit gives me great joy,” she said. “When people say thank you, I see the spark in their eyes.”
This project is just the beginning.
Nadia and her students hope to plant 10,000 food-bearing trees across the 5 parishes hardest hit by the hurricane.
Northern Caribbean University is committed to long-term monitoring and care.
“This partnership is feeding people, restoring our environment, and giving hope,” Nadia said. “Thank you for being part of it.”
Nadia is a hero! You can be too. Donate today to support replanting and recovery. Planting a tree now means food and hope for decades to come.
