Online Bingo Game Raises Thousands for Warrington Hospice

Mark Forster, the former Warrington Wolves (rugby league) hero must be so proud of his son, after coming up with the idea of hosting a game of social media bingo which would see all proceeds going to a local hospice. Chris Forster, 32, hosted the virtual fundraiser in which 500 people took part in!

The Woolston resident charged players £5 to play and was shocked with just how many took part! The bingo game was beamed directly to residents’ computers and mobile devices with the chance to win cash and vouchers for a local town centre restaurant.

Facebook brought the community together with a good old-fashioned game of bingo and in total, the event raised £3K for St Rocco’s Hospice – the local care home with whom he has close links to.

Dab and Grab Some Social Cash

Chris said: “Obviously it’s a hospice that runs purely off fundraising, and I’ve run events for them for seven or eight years – I’ve probably raised about £12,000 for them in total before now. With what’s going on, they’re probably going to lose about £1million of funding due to things like events being cancelled.

It’s just a bit of fun for people while they’re at home, and we’re raising a bit of money for a hospice that is close to my family’s heart and a lot of other people’s as well. I was only expecting a handful of players, but it’s really blown up.”

Hailing the event as a major success, Mark has vowed to do it again; same time next weekend. Also, a special fundraiser has been set up for November. He added: “The response was incredible; it really brought the community together and took people’s minds off the tough times we are currently experiencing. I just hope everybody enjoyed it, keep your eyes out for the next one.”

All Star Performance

Mark is not the only one who has been dabbling in a bit of virtual bingo, because American movie star, Matthew McConaughey has been too! The dreamy hunk best known for his performance in Magic Mike, hosted an online bingo session for elderly Texans last weekend and as you can imagine, it was popular!

Taking to Twitter, the actor switched from suave gent to a casual bingo caller with…

…the help of his family. Beaming directly to the residents at The Enclave, an assisted living community within round Rock, Texas, the players didn’t need any encouragement (or tickets) to take part.

Imagine being on the other end of a live video stream where you can ask a global superstar anything you want (what a bonus!), and they did just that with questions being thrown at him from his ancestry to his favourite drink.

Molly Davis Nedley, a sales director at the facility, told a local Austin TV station; “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.”

Source: “Online bingo game raises thousands for St Rocco's Hospice”. Warrington Guardian. April 11, 2020.