Meghan and Harry Celebrate Success of Archewell Foundation in Annual Report

Article by Erin Vanderhoof

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, through Archewell Foundation, were deeply involved in several significant projects this past year, among them running this year’s Invictus Games and an October panel for World Mental Health Day that featured Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Additionally, their foundation continues to back initiatives worldwide. The foundation's highlights for the year were documented in an annual report and in a video providing a closer look at their numerous projects.

In the foundation's video, Meghan and Harry can be seen interacting with women involved in the Welcome Project, a group aiming to provide assistance to Afghan women who have been displaced due to conflict. During their visit last 2021 to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, they met some of these women who have been recently relocated to the U.S. An Archewell donation paved the way for Welcome.US and Team Rubicon, a refugee-resettlement group, to start a program that would provide these women with essentials like winter coats and a chance for social interaction.

The foundation's report for this year mentioned how Meghan was motivated to start a program akin to the Hubb Community Kitchen, an initiative for Grenfell fire survivors, which she was a part of while in London. The Welcome Project, according to Archewell, has since assisted 237 women at 11 different locations across the U.S., holding programs that aim to promote a sense of belonging through diverse activities - from sewing and art to storytelling and cooking.

Footage of other charitable endeavours from the past year was shared in the video. Some of these events include Meghan's volunteering at Harvest Home in Los Angeles, a charity for expecting mothers and newborns during International Women's Day last March, and their visit to Marcy Lab School in Brooklyn last October as part of their New York City tour. The video also showed the process of preparing school supplies and menstrual products for 2,500 girls in Nigeria in collaboration with the Geanco Foundation.

The report includes a discussion about the ongoing partnership with a South African preschool that Meghan and Harry visited back in Fall 2019. After a burglary earlier this year at the Inkwenkwezi Early Childhood Development Centre in Nyanga, Archewell provided funding to replace stolen items such as tables, chairs, mattresses, blankets and books.

In a letter penned by the Archewell foundation's co-directors James Holt and Shauna Nep, the charity's mission to "show up and do good" is emphasised. They committed to fostering a sense of community and remaining proactive in helping the needy in response to the evolving challenges of the world today, focusing on tackling root causes of issues and seeking long-term solutions.