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Last summer, in honor of Anthony Kearns' 30th birthday, members of various on line fan groups collected $1,000 which was donated to the Anthony Kearns/FCJ Bunclody Music Fund. At the time of the presentation, Anthony commented, in jest (???), how nice it would be to "add another zero" to the check, i.e.$10,000. Inspired by that remark and recognizing a fundraising opportunity, Maryanna Fournier, an Irish music enthusiast and an FCJ Bunclody Band supporter, offered the following "matching challenge" to the fan groups. "I am proposing to match any Christmas contributions up to a total of $4,500. My thinking is that...if the total comes to $4,500 and I match that amount (total: $9,000), we could give Anthony just what he wanted...that extra zero".

Maryanna had graciously agreed to extend this "matching challenge" to ALL donations, be they from fan group members or not. For this reason, her "matching challenge" was posted on this website. All donations received by December 31, 2001 were eligible for the match.

The Anthony Kearns/FCJ Bunclody Music Fund is very grateful to Maryanna for this generous "matching challenge" which she made in memory of her parents. Her father was Irish and her mother loved children and music. How fortunate for the Music Fund!

The Holiday Matching Challenge which was created to benefit the Anthony Kearns/F.C.J. Bunclody Music Fund generated a total of $10,100. This amount includes Maryanna Fournier's matching dollars. While Maryanna's initial challege was $4,500, she chose to increase that amount to $5,000 given the tremendous response from the donors (please read the accompanying letter from Maryanna).

A letter stating that $10,100 will be given to the Music Fund in his name has been forwarded to Anthony Kearns. Included in that letter is a complete list of donors. Copies have also been sent to The Irish Steering Committee of the Anthony Kearns/F.C.J. Bunclody Music Fund and to Gearoid Grant, Musical Director at F.C.J. Bunclody. While there has been no official word yet from those in Ireland, their responses during the campaign (remember, the progress of this fundraiser was posted on this website for all the world to see) ranged from "Astounding!" to "Fantastic!" to "Magnificent result!" to "A good venture well done!".

On behalf of the Music Fund, I would like to thank Maryanna Fournier and all those sharing and thoughtful individuals who gave so generously to make this Holiday Matching Challenge such a splendid success. It is an enormous accomplishment of which all can be proud. Congratulations! And Bravo!