SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. -- A Sumter County school is getting a "makeover" with the help of some sheriff deputies and the improvements are a way to honor a teen who died in a car crash. 

  • 13-year-old Shane McGee died in crash in 1991
  • The Shane McGee Foundation to give funding to Wildwood Middle High School
  • Project also hoped to improve deputy, student relations

Connie McGee and her husband, Robert, live in The Villages. In 1991, they were with family, in a car at a tollbooth, when the unthinkable happened. 

"Somebody was towing a trailer that was not secure and the trailer came loose from their car and it came over and it hit the gas tank in the car we were in and the car exploded," she said. 

Their 13-year-old son Shane was killed. 

"He had a lot of spirit and a good sense of humor and he loved sports and I coached him," recalled Robert McGee.  

They say they will never get over the loss but to keep his memory alive they started the Shane McGee Foundation.

"We tried to see how we could help young people achieve their goals like you know, Shane’s were cut short," said Connie McGee.   

Through Shane's love of sports, the Shane McGee Project is underway at Wildwood Middle High School. 

The project is funding improvements to the athletic department. Some of the project's volunteers are deputies with the Sumter County Sheriff's Office. 

Officials say they are trying to change the perception of law enforcement in the area. 

"We don't have the best relationship with the north end kids. I would say these kids, they don't really see the positive in our deputies, they see the negative," said Beth Hunt with the Sumter County Sheriff's Office. 

The McGee's, both retired educators, hope the project makes a difference. 

"We thought they just needed a little bit of a helping hand," said Connie McGee.