It is almost a sport to criticize the Kardashian-Jenner family. Why is that? It is because they are household names, is it because they are wealthy, many believe they have gained their wealth though privilege. The reality is quite different. I don’t know the Kardashians but I value initiative, hard work, success and people who give back. That describes the Kardashians.
Robert Kardashian left around $40 million to Kris when he died in 2003. Wealthy but not fabulously so. Kris and her children are now worth an estimated $1.55 billion. How did they make it? Through being very smart and working their butts off. The family works tirelessly supporting various causes, donating to charities, and raising awareness of issues impacting the world.
Kylie Jenner is an ambassador for the charity Smile Train, a charity that funds surgery for children with cleft lips and palates. She is working with Ellen DeGeneres to start a nationwide search to find some incredible people around the country doing incredible things for their families, friends and communities. They would be the recipients of the proceeds of her Kylie Cosmetics 22nd birthday collection. Kylie launched a special-edition lip kit called “Smile,” for which she donated 100% of the proceeds to Smile Train. It raised nearly $500,000 and helped fund 1,800 surgeries for children with clefts. according to the charity’s website.
On her 20th birthday, she donated profits from Kylie Cosmetics to Teen Cancer America. Kylie was accompanied by her friend Harry Hudson, himself a cancer survivor, who said they’re “trying to bridge the gap between child and adult cancer care.”
Kendall Jenner used publicity surrounding her 22nd birthday to raise money for Charity Water. She made a donation to fund 25 wells in Ethiopia that will bring clean water to 5,000 people, and 100% of the money will be used to build clean water projects for these communities. The campaign’s top donors included multiple members of Kendall’s family, according to Charity Water.
The Kardashian family used their acceptance speech at the 2018 People’s Choice Awards to raise awareness for wildfire relief efforts. Kim and her husband, Kanye West, donated $500,000 to wildfire relief efforts as well as two $200,000 donations to California firefighters and a $100,000 donation to the firefighter Michael Williams.
Kim and her mother, Kris Jenner, visited Haiti after a devastating earthquake in 2011 and visited various orphanages and donated medical supplies to local clinics. The family, spearheaded by Kris, helped renovate and save the Watts Community Empowerment Center by soliciting powerful contacts to donate money and resources for the restoration. The youth center now offers a variety of programs, like after-school tutoring and organized sports and boasts state-of-the-art technology and facilities. Kourtney has also continued to donate toys and resources to the Watts Center.
Kim was visibly shaken when she discovered the extent of Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis and she and Khloe Kardashian enlisted experts to advise her on the issue. Kim inspired over $1 million worth of donations to the Alexandria House, a shelter for women and single mothers in LA.
Kim is fighting for criminal justice reform and is studying to become a lawyer and advocates for criminal justice reform, gun control legislation, and Black Lives Matter. She actively lobbyies for the freedom of nonviolent offenders. Kim successfully lobbied for the release of Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old grandmother serving a life sentence in prison for nonviolent drug offenses she committed in the ’90s.
The mom of four recently revealed that she began a four-year apprenticeship at a law office based in San Francisco last year in hopes of taking the bar in 2022. Kim is an outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. Kim also works with Everytown for Gun Safety and actively advocates for gun control legislation. Kim spoke with gun violence victims at the March For Our Lives, and all five Kardashian-Jenner sisters have condemned gun violence on social media., but Kim has long taken the most active role in advocating for gun-control legislation.
Kourtney Kardashian teamed up with the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit focused on corporate accountability and sustainable materials, to lobby Congress for updated federal cosmetics regulations. She threw her support behind the Personal Care Products Safety Act, which aims to set higher health and safety standards.
Khloe reportedly habitually donates to charity but prefers not to advertise it. Khloe says she’s passionate about “giving back,” calling it something “we should all be doing.” She says “I give to give. I don’t give to get.”
Many more of us who have been fortunate enough to get into the 1% should be as generous with their time, influence and money as the Kardashians.
I won $3 million on the lottery this weekend so I decided to donate a quarter to charity. Now I have $2,999,999.00