Soon-to-be parents Nicole Richie and Joel Madden shared the joy of having a baby as well as the wealth they are fortunate enough to have, with 100 other expectant and new moms, as they launched the Richie Madden Children's Foundation.
The young couple hosted a surprise baby shower for 100 expectant and new moms at the Los Angeles Free Clinic in Hollywood Monday, where they handed out gifts worth more than $200,000: Baby Bjorn products, cribs, mattresses and toys from Fisher-Price, reports People magazine on its website.
“The looks on their faces were priceless,” Richie told reporters after the shower. “Some of them didn't even believe us [when they saw the gifts]. They thought we were joking.”
Richie, 25, and Madden, 28, will welcome their baby in about two months’ time. In the meantime, they have come up with the idea of establishing a foundation in their child’s honor.
The dad-to-be, frontman of Good Charlotte, said the idea of the Richie Madden Children's Foundation came to them when they found out they were expecting. “We grew up in Los Angeles,” he said, “and we want our child to be a part of the community, and to know that there's a responsibility to help the community,” reports People.com.
“We named it the Richie Madden Children's Foundation because we each have families and our families are close, and our family is involved,” Richie said.
And their involvement in the community will go to such extents that “everything they [the 100 mothers] got, we got, so everything that will be in their nursery, will be in our nursery,” as Richie put it.
Richie and Madden will celebrate their 1-year anniversary this month. The two revealed the “Simple Life” starlet’s pregnancy in late July, amid abundant speculation and impending jail time for Richie.
The young actress/singer was sentenced to four days in jail after she was charged with driving under the influence in late 2006. She spent 82 minutes at the Lynwood facility due to overcrowding.
She says her pregnancy has changed everything. “When I found out that I was pregnant, there was just something inside of me that felt a responsibility to mend any issues that I've had with my parents in the past, because, listen, I've put them through a lot,” she confessed to Access Hollywood in late November, explaining she has mended her relationship with dad Lionel Richie and her biological mother.