Giving back. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos made sure their kids understood the importance of charity at a young age.
“Kids learn the most by just doing stuff and not talk about it. So I think we’ve always been all with various charities,” the 48-year-old Riverdale star told Us Weekly exclusively while discussing their partnership with Amazon in Delivering Smiles earlier this month.
“I was actually thinking about this earlier today and the first time I just participated in any sort of fundamental, community service, was when we went to New Orleans with [Live!] and we helped rebuild this school,” Ripa, 49, explained to Us. “My kids were … Definitely under the age of 8 years old. They were really young. And I think that it is just by doing it, you know, it’s like, ‘Look, if this ever happened to us, we want people to help us.’”
Ripa and Consuelos, who wed in 1996, are the parents of sons Michael, 22, and Joaquin, 16, and daughter Lola, 18. The couple added that their children all went to community service schools.
“It was part of the curriculum,” Consuelos noted.
“I think that our kids know and the older they get, I think the more they realize how fortunate they’ve been all of their lives,” the Live! With Kelly and Ripa host told Us. “I think the more involved in community service they are, the more the realization sort of hits home.”
The twosome have also made charity a priority, teaming up with AmazonSmile.
“Amazon has really great initiatives, especially during the holidays, where you can really just fill certain products on charities’ fulfillment lists. Or you can donate part of what you’re spending, while you’re shopping on Amazon,” Consuelos explained.
Ripa added that the company takes the “guess work” out of giving back.
“They let you directly contribute to whomever needs what it is that they need, you know,” she said. “It’s like, if somebody needs or wants a certain gift for their child, for the holidays, and they’re living in a shelter and they don’t have access to maybe providing their kids the holiday season that they had hoped for. Amazon Smiles is letting people contribute in that way.”
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