Who We Are

Our founder, Marina, is a mom from the northern Chicago suburbs with a strong culinary background. After seeing the disconnect between her own community that indulged their children with organic, healthy foods while other Chicago communities struggled with putting any food on the table at all, she knew it was time to pursue her mission of food equity in Chicago. This led Marina to create Pineapple Way, a 501(c)3 non-profit made up of founders and volunteers that help Chicago’s homeless children and women have access to healthy foods and explore the culinary world through hands-on cooking classes and nutrition seminars that provide the children with life-long skills that they can use long after leaving the shelter. A program that the Pineapple Way team is most proud of is the School’s Out Surprise Box, which provides a box full of healthy food, cooking activities, and crafts for low-income and homeless children that normally rely solely on free school meals. Celebrating its secound year running, it’s been incredibly rewarding to see days off school turn into stress-free and enjoyable days for these kids, as they should be. Using data-driven approaches, Pineapple Way hopes to ultimately combat food equity in Chicago so that children never have to worry about their next meal and instead have more time to enjoy their childhood.