CHICAGO (CBS)– A Northfield nonprofit is making a difference in the lives of people in 22 countries – and it’s doing it, factory by factory.

Mary McLaughlin, a retired artist who once created enamel-painted boxes for the White House, and her husband, retired financial engineer Mike McLaughlin, co-founded the Northfield-based Trees That Feed Foundation in 2008.

Mary and Mike were born and educated in Jamaica. When they retired, they wanted to dedicate their lives to giving back to others in their home country.

“I knew breadfruit could feed people, create jobs and protect the environment,” Mary said.

On a recent trip to Jamaica, a coalition of Uganda, Belize and Haiti arrived in the country to learn how to grow breadfruit and bring that knowledge back to their home countries.

“It contains complex carbohydrates, amino acids, magnesium and potassium,” Mary said of the nutritional benefits of breadfruit.

“They can preserve fruit for drying, preserve it for a long shelf life and process it into other baked goods,” Mike said.

The mission of the non-profit association is carried out in the Caribbean, Central America and Africa. With their partners, more than 350,000 fruit trees have been planted in 22 countries.

One of their partners in Haiti, Pierre Moise Louis, began planting breadfruit in his community, Jérémie, in southern Haiti, in 2012.

Today, twelve years later, he runs a nursery and a bakery. It uses a solar-powered oven dryer created by the foundation and Northwestern University to dehydrate breadfruit to create flour.

Trees That Feed even received the award Improve it Philanthropy Award in the environment category. Louis also teaches women through empowerment workshops to help them become financially independent through the sale of nutritional biscuits made from breadfruit flour.

“It was something very important for the community, because they found a place to sell their breadfruit, and also they can have money to pay for school, because it’s like an income , you know, to pay for school, to feed the kids, everything,” he said.

“They used to make a dollar or two a day, and they quadrupled, quintupled their income,” Mike said.

Thanks to the trees planted to date, more than 500 million meals are provided to schoolchildren each year.

Since 2014, the organization has also distributed 10,000 educational coloring books. They are printed in 12 languages ​​and the message they contain has an important purpose.

“Now the student can become the teacher to their parents, their siblings at home, and it’s called ‘Plant a Tree and Good Things Happen,’” Mary said.

To learn more about the Trees that Feed Foundation and how you can contribute to its mission, visit their website, treesthatfeed.org.

Suzanne Le Mignot

Suzanne Le Mignot is CBS2 Chicago’s weekend morning news anchor and weekday reporter.