Heather Mills, a champion of vegetarianism, brought her healthy diet to the streets of New York on Saturday when she hosted a meat-free barbeque for some of the city’s poorest families.

Now a resident of the city, Heather picked up the tongs and got cooking the soy burgers, sausages, hot dogs and chicken pieces she had donated to create a vegan feast for 1,000 families living in the Bronx.

The 40-year-old also took the opportunity of the event – sponsored by a local children’s charity of which she is honorary chairperson – to announce her plans to donate three years’ worth of “meatless meats” – worth $1 million – to families in the community. Heather explained her gesture was intended to introduce the children to vegetarian alternatives and “help make sure they have as much nutritional advantages as anyone else”.

And the blonde former model, whose daughter with Sir Paul McCartney, Beatrice, is also a vegan, went down a storm in the New York district, which has one of the city’s highest rates of child obesity and asthma.

“We need more people like her around here,” said local resident Tammy Tadua. And a spokesperson for the charity reported an equally enthusiastic response to Heather’s generosity: “The reaction in the community to this donation is ‘Wow’.”