Eat Well MCR Official Charity Announcement

We are delighted to share with you that Eat Well MCR has been awarded charitable status! It’s a huge milestone for us—and now, as we dream a little bigger, we need your support more than ever.

Eat Well MCR was set up in a time of crisis. It was lockdown, nothing was normal anymore, and our founder Mary-Ellen McTague decided to use the produce that had been delivered to her restaurant to make meals to give away to NHS workers—people finishing terrible shifts and facing empty supermarket shelves.

Chef Mary-Ellen McTague talks about Eat Well MCR’s future as a charity

Within weeks, more restaurants, chefs and volunteers joined in. Meals were going out across Greater Manchester to people who needed them most. The whole thing was run from a WhatsApp group called Emergency Food Response—organised chaos that delivered over 1,000 meals a week at its peak.

It quickly became clear that a more formal structure was needed—for organisation, for protection, and to allow us to fundraise and grow. At the time, the Charity Commission was overwhelmed, with applications taking up to a year to process. We didn’t want bureaucracy to get in the way of getting meals to where they were most needed, so we became a Community Interest Company instead.

That served us brilliantly. It meant we could be nimble and responsive as we grew.

Now, as we enter our fifth year, and our mission and vision for the future become clearer, charitable status feels like the right step.

Now, we’re dreaming even bigger - and we’d love to share that dream with you.

We’re looking for a home. A bigger one than our little shipping container.

Kathleen O’Connor, Marketing Strategist, shares her hopes for Eat Well MCR’s home

Our dream is to have a space with a fully equipped professional kitchen. A space where we can run regular chef-led batch cooks, host volunteers, and deliver training and apprenticeships for care-experienced young people and other groups we work with.We want a place where we can host community supper clubs and fundraising events. A place that could support small independent food start-ups. Somewhere with some outdoor space for growing and to share knowledge. A place that provides comfort and community through food—whether you're growing it, cooking it or sitting down to eat.

Our core mission won’t change—it’s written into our charitable aims to keep the joy of making, receiving and sharing food at the heart of everything we do.

Co-Founder Gemma Saunders talking about Eat Well MCR’s core aims

We’ll continue to provide chef-made meals to homeless families, women in refuge, parents with very poorly children in hospital, food banks, schools where children might otherwise not have much to eat at weekends, and other groups facing severe challenges linked to deprivation.

Your support enables us to not only distribute these delicious meals, but also collaborate on community outreach projects that give young people enjoyable and valuable food-led experiences.

In 2020, when this all began, we never dreamed we’d still be here five years—and over 130,000 meals—later.

Now, we’re dreaming of a future with a home that will positively impact our city for many years to come. And with your continued support, we believe that dream can become a reality in the next five years too.

We truly can’t thank you enough for coming along with us on this journey.