Be The Match reached and surpassed Andy Talley's matching challenge

Last month we wrote to inform you about a matching-donation drive that Villanova football head coach Andy Talley was running with Be The Match -- a charity that works to support the growth of the national bone marrow donor registry. Talley promised to match up to $100,000 in donations in the month of September, putting his money where his mouth is.

That goal was not only reached, but exceeded.

"We are profoundly grateful for the generosity of the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation," stated foundation president Christine Fleming. "With the help of our caring community, we met the matching gift challenge of $100,000 and even exceeded it!

"This means, in one month, together we raised over $200,000 to make more life-saving marrow matches possible. That's an incredible achievement - and we couldn't have done it without our dedicated supporters."

The foundation is key to the Villanova football program's annual marrow donor drive, which takes place in the Spring, which has spread to dozens of other college campuses. They regularly add thousands to the donor registry every year, including Chicago Cubs outfielder Matt Szczur and recently Villanova lacrosse midfielder Nick Tortoriello.

Donations to the registry are important as each testing kit used in Talley's drives cost the organization $100, which has been paid for by Be The Match for most of the drive's existence. Raising money helps defray that cost and will allow the marrow testing drives to expand greatly.

To find out more, to donate money or to sign up as a marrow donor, just head to the Be The Match website (BeTheMatchFoundation.org).