Matthew McConaughey is ‘blessed to be a father’ again
Matthew McConaughey put out the call for volunteers Monday … and volunteered a little information of his own about his upcoming second baby.
The actor, who announced Sunday that he and girlfriend Camilla Alves are expecting another child, spoke about their happy news at Monday’s National Conference on Volunteers and Service in San Francisco. Amid a cacophoney of cat calls and hoots and cries of “Matthew!” from the raucous crowd of 4,500, he talked about putting work and fatherhood in perspective.
“We are putting after-school fitness and wellness programs into underserved communities nationwide, teaching physical fitness, nutrition education, with an emphasis on daily gratitude for how much or how little we have,” McConaughey said of his foundation, j.k. livin. “And now that I’m blessed to be a father myself – I got one at home [Levi] who’s 11 months and as you people know, we have another one in the oven, three months – this foundation and its cause means even more to me.”
He also gave a shout out to his pregnant girlfriend Camila Alves. “There’s my lady,” he said, gesturing toward the newly pregnant Alves, seated near the stage to hear McConaughey’s speech about volunteering and the charity work of the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
McConaughey spoke after Jon Bon Jovi sang a three-song set and First Lady Michelle Obama gave a stirring speech announcing a new national program, United We Serve, a call to Americans across the country to volunteer in their communities anyway they can.
The actor told the crowd he was inspired to give back after the passing of his father. “As Mrs. Obama also reminded us, service is something for everybody to get involved in. Now, in my case, I was inspired to get involved in volunteering when I suddenly lost my father Jim McConaughey fours days into working on my first film. And as anyone who’s lost a parent can tell you, when a loved one like that ‘moves on’ – after grieving, one looks for some inspiration from the loss, some lesson to learn, something constructive to take through life in their absence.”
He continued, “For me, it was a few words, that became a sort of a personal mission statement: j.k livin. Where the j is for just, the k is for keep, and there’s no g on livin’, because life is a verb.”
Other speakers included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, First Lady Maria Shriver, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and actress Kerry Washington, who presented the Daily Points of Light Award to volunteer Cindy Kerr, who founded ConKerr Cancer, which makes cheery pillow cases for sick children.
Source, Bauer-Griffin
