George Mendes, executive chef of Amar restaurant in Back Bay, joined his two passions — cooking and giving back — to host a fundraiser dinner for Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island Feb. 25.
“When I’m witnessing other kids that are limited, it just makes me want to apply my skills, my capabilities, in being able to help in any way possible,” Mendes said.
Make-A-Wish is a nonprofit organization that provides “life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses,” according to the organization’s mission statement.
The night of the event, front of house staff folded specialty menus chronicling the fixed-price five course meal of modernized Portuguese dishes.
The meal began with a Kumamoto oyster chowder followed by a Steelhead trout “cru,” a Maine lobster, aromatic spice and honey glazed duck and finished with an elderflower poached rhubarb.
“Today is super nice to be cooking for this reason, for a charity reason, it feels better,” said Heyra Martinez, Amar chef de partie.
Kitchen staff worked on crafting the fixed menu courses on top of the regular dinner menu for customers who didn’t order the fixed menu.
“It gives us more responsibility, juggling two things at once,” said Max Gomez, chef de partie at Amar. “But it’s fun … and for a good cause, of course.”
During the meal, an auction was conducted with prizes spanning from a stay in the Raffles luxury suite paired with a “chef’s counter experience” to a private dinner for four cooked by Mendes. The bids started at $2,000 and $1,500 respectively.
Additionally, guests could scan a QR code on the menu to make a donation.
“Something that sets Make-A-Wish apart from other charities is the absolutely incredibly strong community network of support that we have and that we engage with on a regular basis,” said Heather Davidson, the senior manager of communications at Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Mendes is a member of the Make-A-Wish Boston Marathon team. Each year, Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island receives bibs for the Boston Marathon from the 2025 Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program.
“We take a look… and make sure we have runners who are motivated, committed and align with our mission,” Davidson said. Team members raise funds in addition to running on behalf of Make-A-Wish.
Mariame Sano, director of community partnerships at Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said all of the fundraising done by the team goes directly to wish granting.
Davidson said each marathon team member is paired with a member of the wish community — someone who is awaiting or received their wish — in order to create a relationship between the two.
“That’s something we’re doing this year, to tie the mission in more closely with each runner and have them have a face and a name to be thinking about as they’re training and as they’re running in April,” Davidson said.
Mendes is running in honor of 7-year-old Damien, who recently had his wish granted.
“It warmed my heart and soul to hang out with him for a while and meet his family,” Mendes wrote in an email. “He danced and laughed and all I kept thinking was how much his happiness mattered, how I could make an impact in his life by raising funds for Make-A-Wish.”
Mendes said he has cooked to fundraise before.
“Being able to share a plate of food with someone that’s satiating, that’s nurturing, that fuels creativity … when I’m able to share that with people, I naturally gravitate to bringing it to different modalities, different platforms,” Mendes said.
Mendes worked with Love and Spoonfuls, now Spoonfuls, a Boston-based organization that redistributes food that would go to waste to communities across Massachusetts within the day.
“I’m almost addicted to doing good,” Mendes said.
After being introduced to Make-A-Wish, Mendes has hosted fundraising events including a gingerbread workshop earlier this year where families gathered at Amar to create their own gingerbread houses.
Mendes will host another Make-A-Wish fundraiser March 11 at Frenchie Boston, a restaurant in Boston’s South End.
“It’s really about committing to something and saying, ‘Okay, how am I going to make this happen?’” Mendes said, about how he makes time to train for the Boston Marathon between running Amar and hosting fundraisers.
“It takes a lot of discipline. It takes a lot of encouragement. And for me, it’s pretty easy. I think of the kids.”
