Meghan Markle is keeping in touch with charities close to her heart in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic. The animal lover is reportedly supporting animal charity Mayhew during the time of crisis. The 38-year-old has secretly been making calls to the organisation in a bid to keep homeless people and their dogs united throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

The Duchess of Sussex is the patron of Mayhew. The organisation receives funds from donations, hence public fundraising events are what they rely on. But, now majority of the fundraisers have been cancelled due to current social distancing norms. As a result, Mayhew has launched an appeal for funds to help keep its centre running, and sums raised will be put towards essentials such as food and flea and worming treatments.

"The Duchess is in touch and working with Mayhew at this time. One thing many people may not realize is the range of work Mayhew does. It is not your classic animal charity. They are supporting so many other people in the community too," a source said speaking to Newsweek.

Sarah Hastelow, media officer for the charity, told the outletthat it costs approximately £6,000 [$7,400] a day to just keep Mayhew running.

In April, the adoption centre announced that it was reopening its adoption scheme in a tweet. "We have re-opened our adoptions! To ensure we're rehoming safely and responsibly, we have a new process and criteria in place. We will be following government guidelines, and are trialling virtual interviews and a local drop off service," it tweeted.

Meghan Markle
Meghan Markle attends Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene Getty

The first time Meghan visited Mayhew as a patron in January 2019, when she was six months pregnant with her son Archie. In July last year, Meghan who has two rescue dogs -- a beagle named Guy and a Labrador-shepherd mix called Bogart wrote a touching foreword for Mayhew's annual review.

Meghan Markle