How Meghan Markle Helped 6-Year-Old Gavin Hazelwood Raise Money For Stillborn Research, And It Involves Pasta

When Meghan Markle accepted a homemade pasta necklace from a 6-year-old named Gavin Hazelwood, it seemed like a sweet and kind gesture. But luckily for Gavin, that simple gift seems to have made a difference, as he is receiving orders from around the world for his necklace, according to People.

It all started when Gavin handed Meghan the necklace in Melbourne, which the duchess “immediately” put on. In a video, the Meghan can be heard asking him, “You made this? Thanks Gavin. Nice to meet you. I really appreciate that, thank you. I’m going to put this on. How’s it look?” It was a silver chain with gold-colored pasta pieces, which complemented her navy blue Dion Lee dress. Markle chose to wear the necklace until she attended a formal reception at the Government House. The young boy managed to capture her attention by also holding up a sign that said, “I made you a necklace,” according to News.com.au.

The “Meghan Markle effect” has become well-known in the fashion world, which sees a huge spike in sales of clothing items that the duchess wears. Except this time, the Meghan Markle effect gave Gavin a new platform to potentially make profits from his humble creations. This is what his mom, Rowan Hazelwood, said about the situation.

“We had a lot of people saying to Gavin, you should make more, you’ll make lots of money from this, everybody will want to buy her necklace.”

And it turns out that after Gavin set up a website to sell the necklaces at $20 a pop, that orders started coming in. It’s made up of dinosaur-shaped pasta and gold paint, detailed CBS News.

While this could be an opportunity for young Gavin to jump-start his entrepreneurial journey, he’s instead decided to donate all of the proceeds from the necklace. The cause that he and his family are donating to is for stillborn birth research, because Gavin’s mom has unfortunately lost a baby girl before.

“She’s a part of our lives still, even for the kids, and they talk to her every day.”

If you’re interested in checking out the necklaces, you can see them at Gavin’s website. On the website, Gavin noted the following.

“I want to be like the Prince and Princess and support charities. I made more necklaces the same as Meghan’s. If I sell them, I will donate all the profit to charity. I’d love to start my own charity in honour of my sister.”