Mary and Mike, both originally from Jamaica, started a foundation that plants breadfruit trees in over 20 countries. — DOMINIC DI PALERMO/Chicago Tribune/TNS
After Hurricane Melissa’s exceptionally strong winds subsided, the roots of breadfruit trees clung deep into the fertile Jamaican soil – offering hope and a step toward food security in the future.
For the past 16 years, Mary and Mike McLaughlin, Jamaican natives who now live in Winnetka, Illinois, have helped plant almost half a million fruit trees – mostly non-native breadfruit – across the Caribbean and Africa, about 250,000 of those in Jamaica alone. Despite its resilience, breadfruit has long been an underutilised source of food, said Mary.
