PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle have been hailed as “incredible” after secretly delivering free meals to the needy in Los Angeles.
The couple, who spent Easter delivering meals for those too ill to cook for themselves, were disguised by their face masks and their identity was only revealed after their visit.
Shocked LA locals only later realised their weekly food parcels were delivered by the royal couple.
The couple have reportedly signed up to volunteer with Project Angel Food, which takes non-perishable meals to people with critical illnesses around west Hollywood.
The new Los Angeles residents reportedly joined the charity on the recommendation of Meghan’s mother.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent Easter Sunday and Wednesday April 15 delivering a week’s worth of food to locals with health issues supported by Project Angel Food.
They delivered to six residents on Easter Sunday and a further 14 on Wednesday.
They did not have baby Archie but were accompanied by their security detail.
The organisation, founded 30 years ago, cooks, prepares and delivers 15,000 meals a week to people in LA living with crippling illness; people with heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, kidney failure, cancer and HIV.
Those people are especially at risk now because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Richard Ayoub, executive director of Project Angel Food, said: “Most people didn’t realise it was Meghan and Harry delivering their food until later.
“Harry and Meghan told me later that everyone expressed deep gratitude for the work Project Angel Food does, which was incredible and they wanted to make sure I heard that message.
“They wanted to see Los Angeles through the eyes of philanthropy and Project Angel Food.
“I gave them a tour around the facility, too where they went into the kitchen and spoke to the chefs.
“Meghan obviously used to live in LA and knew about us and when they wanted to be of service at Easter they wanted to volunteer and Meghan’s mother told her Project Angel Food needed help.
“They delivered a week’s worth of meals to a list of clients. They were frozen, medically-tailored meals geared for each illness.
“And they also delivered some non perishables, things like canned tuna, oatmeal, to people just in case they are in an emergency.
“They followed all the protocols of course, they wore gloves, N95 masks and a six foot social distancing.”
He added: “They were completely down to earth, dressed very casually and genuinely very interested in every single person they met, whether it was me, one of our chefs, one of our clients.
“They are very engaged in this work and genuinely concerned about the vulnerable people of Los Angeles.
“We were born in response to the AIDS crisis and now we have another pandemic so we really feel we were born for this moment.
“This organisation makes sure the vulnerable are not forgotten and when someone like Meghan and Harry visits a meal to you, it really helps what we do to sink in and it shows that someone cares for you.”
Mr Ayoub said he was grateful for their help.
“They did this very quietly.
“I just feel that of all the places they could have volunteered at, they picked this place.
“We’re extremely humbled and honored.”
Project Angel Food is planning to feed an extra 400 people in its waiting list in the next month.
“We want to make sure they get fed, and if Harry and Meghan’s visit helps us with donations to make that happen, it would be just wonderful,” Richard said.
The news follows an announcement by the couple that they would be relocating to Hollywood from their previous base in Canada.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has seen particular concerns raised about the impact of the condition on vulnerable people and those with weakened immune systems.
The couple are said to have stuck to government guidelines on social distancing and the use of protective equipment while carrying out the work.
‘FORCE FOD GOOD’
The pandemic has seen a significant spike in demand for the services provided by Project Angel Food.
It typically delivers around 1600 meals a day, but in recent weeks has seen 400 additional people register.
It has also seen regular volunteers unable to attend and fundraising events cancelled.
Donations to the charity can be made via its website.
Twitter users praised the couple for doing what they could to help the charity keep up its work.
“Excellent news,” one said.
“It’s really great to see that Harry and Meghan are continuing their impactful, community-based, and results-oriented charity work in Meghan’s hometown.
“The Sussexes are true forces for good.”
“This is amazing,” another said.
It also emerged yesterday that the couple had given £90,000 to Feeding Britain, a charity doing similar work to Project Angel Food amid Britain’s ongoing coronavirus lockdown.
The coronavirus has infected more than two million people across the world and more than 660,000 in the US.
At least 32,00 around the US have died since the country’s first case was diagnosed in January.
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