Prince Harry and Meghan Markle donate 200 New Zealand-made beanies to Kiwi charity in honour of

Archie's birthday

Emily Brookes

08:25, May 11 2021

The founder of New Zealand charitable foundation Make Give Live was shocked to see royal baby Archie
wearing one of their hats in a new photo.

Kiwi social enterprise Make Give Live will be bracing itself for another run on orders for its baby beanies,
after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had 200 made and sent to local charity I Got Your Backpack in
honour of their son Archie’s second birthday.

The Sussexes were introduced to Make Give Live when they toured New Zealand in 2019 while the
Duchess was pregnant with Archie.

The organisation aims to tackle isolation and mental illness by bringing people together to knit and
crochet hats and other items, one of which is then donated to charity for each item sold.

Make Give Live was inundated with orders after a photo of Archie wearing its Cocobear beanie was
shared on social media.

Make Give Live was inundated with orders after a photo of Archie wearing its Cocobear beanie was
shared on social media.

A Make Give Live “Cocobear” beanie was gifted to the couple, but co-founder Claire Conza said she had
“almost forgotten about it” until they shared a photo of Archie wearing the beanie on New Years Day,
2020.

READ MORE:

* Happy Birthday to Archie! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle share new photo of their son as he turns 2

* Prince Harry and Meghan Markle call for vaccine equity in honour of son Archie's birthday
* Harry and Meghan support Kiwi social enterprise Make Give Live after PM's shout out

That led to a run on orders so great the organisation had to put a temporary halt on them in order to
catch up.

Hours after the photo was shared, Make Give Live was getting multiple orders a second and had
completely sold out of the Cocobear style.

Among the orders were two more for delivery to an address in Windsor, where Harry, Meghan and
Archie were living at the time, in Frogmore Cottage.

Now Harry and Meghan have worked with Make Give Live to donate 200 beanies to I Got Your
Backpack, which donates care packs filled with clothing and other essential items to safe houses like
Woman’s Refuge, to mark Archie turning two.

In a video posted to Facebook, Conza showed off the piles of 200 beanies and what else would be
included in the I Got Your Backpack baby packs.

Make Give Live founder Claire Conza.

I Got Your Backpack founder Anita Hinton said the packs would last about a day.

“Knowing these travel right across the country to kids that really need them I think is beautiful, to warm
their little heads and also their little hearts,” she said.

In the caption to the video, Make Give Live wrote: “Thank you Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of
Sussex, and of course, Archie for the generous donation of these 200 beanies to your friends on the
other side of the world in NZ... Happy Birthday Archie."

The Duke and Duchess shared a new photo of their son – though it showed only his back – for his
birthday, while asking fans to donate to bring the Covid-19 vaccine to underprivileged people to mark
the occasion.

Harry and Meghan support Kiwi social enterprise Make Give Live after PM's shout out

Anuja Nadkarni

11:49, Dec 28 2020

The founder of New Zealand charitable foundation Make Give Live was shocked to see royal baby Archie
wearing one of their hats in a new photo.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have donated 200 hand made woollen beanies through Kiwi social
enterprise Make Give Live after a note from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Make Give Live co-founder Claire Conza said the social enterprise had been overwhelmed with orders
since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared a photo of their baby, Archie, wearing one of its beanies in
January.

Conza asked the social enterprise’s Instagram followers for a way to contact the royal couple to wish
them a Merry Christmas and express gratitude for spotlighting Make Give Live.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have donated 200 hand made woollen beanies through Kiwi social
enterprise Make Give Live.

A few days before Christmas, Conza received an official letter from the royals stating the Archewell
Foundation wanted to donate 200 woollen beanies to Kiwi kids and mentioned Ardern had informed
them about Make Give Live wanting to get in touch.

READ MORE:

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Ardern

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* Prince Harry and Meghan's Frogmore Cottage staff 'let go' - report

“Jacinda Ardern follows our Instagram page and she saw our post. That was really a lovely surprise,”
Conza said.

The company gifted a beanie to Ardern after the birth of her daughter Neve.

For every handmade beanie sold, Make Give Live donated a beanie to a charity.

Make Give Live co-founder Claire Conza says she was thankful to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern putting
in a word about the social enterprise wanting to contact Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who are also
customers of the Kiwi business.

Make Give Live co-founder Claire Conza says she was thankful to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern putting
in a word about the social enterprise wanting to contact Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who are also
customers of the Kiwi business.

Conza said this year revenue had grown more than 1000 per cent compared to last year.
A person involved with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's tour to New Zealand in 2019 approached
Make Give Live for a hat to gift to the royal couple while the Duchess of Sussex was pregnant with
Archie.

Conza said it came as a total surprise when she saw the photo of Prince Harry holding Archie who was
wearing a different hat by Make Give Live in January.

“We went to bed not knowing what to make of it. The next morning we were flooded with orders and
saw a news article about Meghan buying two beanies in the next size up.

“We went through our orders and surely enough there were two orders addressed to Windsor with the
email address ending with royal.uk that we had totally missed at the time,” Conza said.

In the picture posted as part of the Sussexes' New Years Message, Archie wears a hat made by Kiwi
social enterprise Make Give Live.

SUSSEXROYAL / INSTAGRAM

In the picture posted as part of the Sussexes' New Years Message, Archie wears a hat made by Kiwi
social enterprise Make Give Live.

Make Give Live’s had given away more than 3500 beanies this year and had a few hundred more to
donate over next winter, Conza said.

Conza said Make Give Live would work with a number of charities including Give a Kid a Blanket, I’ve Got
Your Backpack, Lifewise and Auckland City Mission, to give away the 200 beanies.

A network of 130 volunteers around the country made the hats and all profits went back into the
business, she said.

The social enterprise was set up four years ago to tackle isolation and mental illness by bringing people
together to knit and crochet hats.

Make Give Live works with a network of volunteers who knit and crochet hats

SUPPLIED

Make Give Little had received growing interest to replicate their model in other parts of the world,
Conza said.

The United States had also become a popular customer base for the New Zealand-made beanies, she
said.
Conza said she hoped to meet with Ardern to thank her for putting her in touch with the Duke and
Duchess of Sussex and hoped to also collaborate with the royal couple through their Archewell
Foundation.

“I hear Prince Harry and Meghan are setting up a podcast on Spotify. I’ll be listening closely, I would love
to stay connected.”