Discussing how he came up with the idea for his charitable efforts, the 'Dallas Buyers Club' star confesses that he had been 'looking for ways to give back' and for him to be of service.
- Nov 24, 2021
AceShowbiz - Matthew McConaughey has been named The Hollywood Reporter's Philanthropist of the Year. The Oscar winner, whose just keep livin foundation has raised $7.7 million (£5.7 million) for Texas storm relief, has opened up in a new interview with the trade paper to discuss his charitable efforts.
"I'd been looking for ways to give back," the "Dallas Buyers Club" star tells the outlet about what sparked his foundation back in 2008. "How can I be of service? There's a different gala every weekend. Everyone's got a cause, a foundation. I remember I said, 'I want to prevent before cure,' all right? So that led me to youth - get them young before there's a real problem where they can make their own self-reliant choices and better healthy choices for themselves."
"I settled on high school kids because it's the last bridge before you cross into adulthood. So then the question was: Which high schoolers need help the most? That's when we settled on Title I lower-income schools, a lot of single-parent homes. There's a real need here. We started in Los Angeles with a couple of schools, with physical fitness goals - two hours after school, twice a week."
His dedication has been rewarded with thanks from kids and teachers. "I got a 17-minute video on my birthday from all the teachers from 40 schools saying thanks for starting this," he recalled. "To hear them say, 'I just want to let you know how much value this brings to my life as a teacher,' I knew we were doing a lot of good work, but I didn't realize until that video what we had done for teachers, too."
