McConaughey plays virtual bingo with seniors

Residents at a senior living facility in Texas had a special guest join their virtual bingo night: Texas native Matthew McConaughey. While McConaughey and his family couldn’t leave their house to visit the seniors, they could do the next best thing. They hosted a bingo game on a video chat with The Enclave at Round Rock Senior Living.

The seniors had requested McConaughey as a guest before, CBS affiliate KEYE-TV reports. In September, the residents and team members at the senior living facility posted a video on social media asking McConaughey to join them for bingo. Now, he was finally able to answer the call.

The Oscar-winning actor called letters as his mom, Kay, wife Camila and kids watched. When a “bingo” was called, the winner got to ask McConaughey a question as their prize.

The seniors at The Enclave at Round Rock Senior Living are used to playing bingo – but not like this. Due to social distancing guidelines, they had to play virtually and a special guest joined them.  The Enclave at Round Rock Senior Living

A video posted to the living facility’s Facebook page showed McConaughey cheering on bingo winners. “During a time when we are all working to make lemonade out of lemons, we are so humbled that Matthew took the time to play our favorite game with us,” employees at the living facility wrote. “As Matthew would say, let’s turn this red light into a green light!”

Molly Davis Nedley, the sales director at The Enclave at Round Rock Senior Living, told KEYE-TV that staff can’t interact with residents as they normally would, “so we have been doing everything possible to uplift them virtually.” 

“This was a wish come true! The residents absolutely loved seeing Matthew and his family and enjoyed hearing him talk about what he’s doing to get through this crisis,” she said. “It gave them hope and was the boost that they needed to get through this lonely, challenging time.”

McConaughey and his wife Camila have been posting “stay at home” messages on their social media pages. Last week, the actor participated in a video telling University of Texas to stay home and stay safe.

It was announced last year that McConaughey would join the faculty of University of Texas at Austin, as a professor of practice at the school’s Moody College of Communication.

McConaughey has been a visiting instructor at the school since 2015 and served as the school’s “Minister of Culture,” KEYE-TV reports. The Texas native attended UT Austin, graduating in 1993 with a bachelor’s of science in radio, television and film, according to the school. 

Now that classes can’t meet in person, McConaughey was free to host bingo with some grateful players.

McConaughey and his family, seen in the box in the last row of the video chat, helped call letters during the virtual bingo game. The Enclave at Round Rock Senior Living