The Duchess of Sussex continued her advocacy for women in need this past weekend, visiting a pivotal program she launched through the Archewell Foundation.
On Saturday, Duchess Meghan enjoyed “an evening of cooking and storytelling” with the women at the Southern California Welcome Project, an initiative that Meghan and Prince Harry’s charitable foundation started in 2023. The Welcome Project aims to “support women-led programming” and “create a safe haven and inclusive environment for women who have recently resettled in the U.S. from Afghanistan,” a mission inspired by the duchess’s work with the Hubb Community Kitchen in London.
The Sussexes’ newly unveiled website shared details from this weekend’s visit. Photos show Meghan in a navy blue Archewell Foundation apron over a plain black tank top, cooking with Welcome Project participants in a large kitchen. The night saw “a group of 15 women gathered to cook traditional Afghan food including Ashak and Mantuu,” with the group congregating after the meal “to discuss their personal stories and the support they find from this intergenerational group of women.”
For the event, the Archewell Foundation collaborated with nonprofit Mina’s List, an organization that has worked to evacuate and resettle over 2,000 Afghan women and families.
Including the Southern California chapter, there are 11 active Welcome Project chapters across the United States, building community through activities like art, hiking, swimming, and—of course—cooking.
The Welcome Project was inspired by Meghan’s lauded work with the Hubb Community Kitchen, a coalition of community members who cooked together following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in West London. The duchess and the group released a cookbook to raise funds for the kitchen, and Together: Our Community Kitchen subsequently ended up selling over 71,000 copies in just seven weeks.
The Hubb Community Kitchen marked Meghan’s first-ever solo philanthropic endeavor during her time as a senior working member of the British royal family. “The spirit of the Hubb Community Kitchen has always been one of caring, giving back, and helping those in need, initially in Grenfell and now throughout the U.K.,” Meghan said in 2020, in a statement shared with Harper’s Bazaar. “A home-cooked meal from one neighbor to another, when they need it most, is what community is all about.”
As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset.
