Actor Matthew McConaughey and his wife US/Brazilian model Camila Alves attend the premiere of "White Boy Rick" during the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on Sept. 7, 2018. (Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images)
Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves McConaughey will be donating 80,000 masks to healthcare workers, firefighters, and police officers in Austin and New Orleans amid the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.
According to a Facebook post from the Austin Fire Department, on April 10, the McConaugheys’ made a surprise visit to the C-shift at Station 32 where they told firefighters that they will be donating several thousand N95 masks soon, as part of their commitment to donate 80,000 masks overall.
“On behalf of the public safety and healthcare families, a HUGE thank you to the McConaugheys for their generous gift!” the Austin Fire Department wrote.
McConaughey’s wife, a model and designer, also shared the news of her and her husband’s donation in an Instagram post last week which was accompanied by a video of the couple delivering boxes to the fire department.
“Our mission is to protect those who protect us, by providing healthcare workers, firefighters, police officers, and others with approximately 80,000 masks needed to battle the COVID-19 virus,” she wrote. “Matthew and I, our friends Bill and Tracey Marshall have teamed up with the organization BStrong. We are passionate about helping first responders from our hometown Austin, Texas, Louisiana, and nationwide as we combat this national pandemic.”
Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves attend the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 3, 2019. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty Images)
According to its website, the BStrong program is a “disaster relief initiative that provides real time emergency assistance to individuals and their families in crisis,” and its mission is to “empower people struck with tragedy by providing gift cards, emergency aid, food, and shelter to disaster victims.”
The initiative was launched by American reality television personality Bethenny Frankel in 2017 and has “raised and distributed millions of dollars in cash and supplies for victims of natural disasters around the world,” including those in the United States, Puerto Rico, South America, the Caribbean islands, and Australia.
In her Instagram post last week, McConaughey’s wife added that she hoped the move would inspire others to help too or inspire them to “pick a lane to help others, whatever that lane is even if your lane is helping your neighbor, calling people, emotional support, donations, volunteer.”
Matthew McConaughey has been sharing a number of videos on social media in recent weeks to raise awareness on social distancing during the CCP virus pandemic, including a recent tutorial on how to create your own homemade mask using a bandana, a coffee filter, and two rubber bands.
As of April 14, there are 14,277 confirmed cases of CCP virus in Texas and 295 deaths have been attributed to this disease, which originated in Wuhan, China, in December last year.
