The event this year will be similar to last year and include a golf tournament starting at 12:30 PM followed by a reception, dinner and auction (appx. 5:30 pm).  The cost for the event will be $125 per person. If you only plan to attend the dinner and auction, the cost is $50. Please RSVP by Friday, October 7th if you plan to attend so we can provide final numbers to the venue. You can also visit our Facebook page to RSVP, post a comment or ask a question.

Event: 4th Annual Slarve Family Benefit
When: Friday, October 14, 2011 (Golf: 12:30 PM, Reception & Dinner to follow appx. 6:30 pm)
Where: Boundary Oak Golf Course • 3800 Valley Vista Road • Walnut Creek, CA 94598 • 925-934-4775
Cost: $125 for the package  ($75 golf, $50 dinner if you are only )
RSVP: click here to RSVP or visit our Facebook page by October 7, 2011

We had an incredibly generous participation the last several years from the strong community of family and friends. This event continues to raise a large amount of money to help in supporting Barbara and the children. We need your help in securing donations for auction items and spreading the word about the event. Please send me an email (tmarshburn at yahoo (dot) com)  listing the details of any item/experience that you may be able to donate. We would like to have a complete list by Friday October 7, 2011.

Spread the word!  Please pass this along to anyone who may be interested in attending.  If you have questions or would like to help, contact Todd Marshburn at (tmarshburn at yahoo (dot) com),  510-488-3140.

Suggested Attire: Golf, Casual

Thanks and I look forward to seeing everyone

It’s always one of my favorite nights of the year, filled with compassion, heart felt conversation and therapuetic laughter.  We each have hundreds of memories and stories to share and look forward to the event.  One special moment during the evening reminded us all of Dan’s humanity and his willingness to help others .  Dan’s father, Dr. Richard Slarve read an emotional letter from the organ donation service with an update on 3 people who are now leading healthy, active lives all because of Dan.  It was a reminder of Dan’s belief that the simplist of things (like checking the box on your driver’s license) can help others in need.

From 2009-10-15 2nd Annual Slarve Benefit Dinner

This year was first as we welcomed new attendees who didn’t get a chance to know Dan, but heard about our event and wanted to get involved. We look forward to continuing to grow next year and welcome anyone interested in attending. I’ve posted the full picture album online or you can also view as a slide show . 

If you weren’t able to make the event this year, but would still like to make a donation to the family, just click on the “Donate” link on the upper right side of the screen. 

If you are interested in attending or have something to donate for the auction, the 3rd Annual event will be held in October 2010. Please send me an email with any questions.

From 2009-10-15 2nd Annual Slarve Benefit Dinner

From 2009-10-15 2nd Annual Slarve Benefit Dinner

From 2009-10-15 2nd Annual Slarve Benefit Dinner

From 2009-10-15 2nd Annual Slarve Benefit Dinner

1st Annual Dan Slarve Memorial Home Run Derby

November, 14, 2008
Heather Farm Park, Walnut Creek – Field #1

$35/person

Check In:  5-6pm
Hitting Starts at 6pm

Prizes for individual and five person teams

All proceeds will go directly to Dan’s family.

For more information contact Jeff Randall
Email:  randall (at) astound (dot) net
Tel: 925 451 7985

On Facebook? Check out the Event Page

Barbara Slarve, pictured with her kids, from left, Nathan, Rachel and Taylor, has been overwhelmed at the kindness she's received following the death of her husband, Dan, in June. (Picture Credit: Dan Rosenstrauch)

TO THE UNINITIATED, it may seem like an exercise in stress. Piling the kids into the car, finding that old glove and maneuvering schedules in order to get to the softball diamond once a week can sound like anything but fun.

But Dan Slarve got it.

“He just really enjoyed being around the guys a lot. A lot of them he knew for a long time,” says Barbara Slarve, Dan’s wife of nine years and mother to their children Taylor, 7, Nathan, 4, and Rachel, 18 months. “I think it really made him feel like a kid again, because for a few hours, the problems of everyday life stop.”

Which is why Dan Slarve’s story is so tragic and why Barbara Slarve’s story is so telling.

Dan Slarve died June 19, 2008, barely more than a month after sliding into second base and breaking his leg on a Thursday evening with “Belly Up,” the team with which he had played in the “C’ division of Walnut Creek Adult Softball, Inc., the past four years. To say it was unexpected or that, at 37 he was way too young hardly expresses how awful such a development is.

“Just mind-boggling,” is how Sean Sanner, Dan’s longtime neighbor and teammate puts it. “To think about how we were giving him a hard time because he was hobbling around on a broken leg…”

The injury required surgery — supposedly routine. But five weeks after the injury, Dan Slarve suffered a pulmonary embolism — a blood clot in the lung — and Barbara Slarve’s world has been off it’s axis ever since.

But she is surviving, in no small part for the same reasons why softball strikes a chord in most of us. The real world — or, to be more exact, the way the world tends to be — also has taken a leave.

“The way that people reached out and offered their support, that’s the only reason I’m doing as well as I’m doing,” Barbara Slarve says. “Everybody has so much going on in their own lives and has so much to deal with on their own that it blows you away.”

And, she might’ve added, uplifts.

Parents from North Creek Academy and Pre-school in Walnut Creek, where Slarve’s children attend, responded with financial donations and offers to watch Slarve’s kids. WCAS also made a substantial donation and immediately helped “Belly Up” send out fliers to more than 150 teams that constitute it’s leagues. The resulting responses have been in the “thousands of dollars,” Sanner says.

“Belly Up” also organized a “home-improvement”fundraiser, during which Dan’s unfinished home projects were completed. Members of the community also have cooked meals, stocked the family with groceries — “technically, I still haven’t gone shopping,” Barbara says — and sent notes of encouragement. Local businesses donated materials and services.

Even Easton, the maker of aluminum bats, is expected to sponsor a home run derby that will bring together teams from Walnut Creek in another fundraiser.

To put it simply, it’s been an exercise in one of sports’ greatest lessons. Namely a small bit of sacrifice by every individual can bring about the unlikeliest of triumphs — the victory, in this case, being the restoration of hope.

It’s enough to renew one’s faith in human kindness.

“I couldn’t agree more,” says Kristin Roberts, who grew up with Dan and remained friends with him through the years.  “Honestly, it’s so easy to get caught up in some silly little drama like who wins a game… but at of the day, something like this happens and people unite.”

Eventually the members of “Belly Up” will unite again in a far less heavy time. Dan’s old team has been on the field since the tragedy, but next spring will mark a new start of sorts. No longer will Dan be there to take his place at second base or receive the good-natured barbs that are part of recreational softball.

But Barbara will be there, at least part of the time.

“All of our kids have parts of Dan in them, and… they loved going, “Barbara says. “And I liked that their daddy was involved in something.”

Involved in something that, in the end, was quite extraordinary.

I want to thank everyone for helping us out during this difficult time.  To everyone who has and continues to watch the kids, cook us meals, stock us with groceries, work in the yard, or send notes of encouragement, all I can say is that we greatly appreciate all of your help.  It makes the days a little easier and gives me more time to be with the kids.

In July I took the kids to Southern California to visit my parents, friends and Disneyland.  We were gone for almost three weeks. During that time there was a work crew of friends and family at our house finishing off the never ending To-Do list that Dan and I had made for the house.  Our house looks amazing! I walked into our house and it was perfect, but also bittersweet. I was asked a few weeks later if I was use to everything and my response was that I didn’t have to get use to anything.  All the projects were finished just the way Dan would have wanted them to be, and the way I always envisioned them to be.

I think about Dan all the time.  I talk to him, I laugh and I cry.  I have a broken heart, and it aches.  Taylor, my daughter who is seven and very wise, said right after her Daddy died, “I have a hole in my heart now that Daddy died. I know the hole will go away, but there will be a scar forever.”  And that is how I feel.

I am sad because I lost a wonderful and supportive husband who told me he loved me everyday and I knew he meant it. I miss his hugs, smile, and sparkling blues eyes.

My kids lost an awesome Dad who loved to be with them. Dan loved to go on dates with Taylor.  They would go out to dinner and see a movie, or walk around downtown and look at the shops.  Nathan and Dan would go fishing, play baseball and build things together in the garage.  Rachel was 16 months when Dan died.  He loved to hold her and take her grocery shopping.   Rachel was finally starting to run to the door to greet Dan when he came home from work, and that just melted his heart.  Dan isn’t walking through the door anymore and it hurts, but I know he is thankful that everyone is helping us now.

Again I want to say thank you to my family, the families at NorthCreek, the “Belly Up” team, my Chi-Omega sisters, our neighbors, Dan’s co-workers and everyone who has helped us during this time.  It truly helps us get through each day.

A pledge for support:  Dan Slarve 1971-2008

As many of you have already heard, Dan Slarve from team “Belly Up,” died tragically on June 19th due to complications he suffered from a broken leg he sustained sliding into second base this 2008 softball season.  Dan left behind his wife Barbara and, three young children, Taylor (7), Nathan (4) and Rachael (1).

Team “Belly Up” is leading a “home improvement” fundraiser to help finish a number of important projects that Dan had planned for the summer and remain unfinished.

As part of a community of over 100 teams, we are hoping for your teams support to help finance a number of home repairs including plumbing, electrical, and roof repairs before the rainy season.  Our goal is to raise $20,000.00 for the family through this softball community which, if every team contributes, is an attainable goal.  Team “Belly Up” will be organizing the work in hopes to have Barbara and kids in a clean and safe home by summers end.

If you are able to help, we urge every team manager to share this story with his respective team members and help gather funds for this cause.  (If one check per team could be sent, we would appreciate it).

For more information about Dan’s story visit http://danslarve.wordpress.com/

Although there are instructions to donate on this site, we want to manage these funds separately so we can offer them to Barbara as funds directly contributed by Dan’s softball community.

We ask that checks be made payable to “The Family of Dan Slarve”and mailed or delivered to Rich Harrington – 304 Strand Ave, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.

Our goal is to have all funds collected by the end of July so we can get the projects scheduled immediately.

For any inquiries or for any information on how you can help the family, please feel free to email Rich Harrington. (rharrington_2002 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Regards,
Team “Belly Up”

If you’re interested in helping (which includes needs for people, labor, materials and funding) see below.

Message from Rich…

Thank you to all volunteers that helped out this past weekend on the initial Slarve Home Improvement project. We had a productive time at the Slarve estate and the small group of 10 volunteers accomplished a number of projects:

· all 4 bedrooms trimmed out, painted and put back together
· the garage 60% cleaned out
· a flower/rock bed planted with a few H20 mishaps along the way
· rock path laid
· many other clean up items completed.

We still have the family room, kitchen and bathroom to do over the next week, plus some general yard work.

Resources (people/labor/materials/funding) needed ASAP:

1. A skilled painter to prep and paint cabinets. These cabinets are stained Oak and just covering with paint won’t cut it. If anyone has the skills, access to a painter we can hire or get Pro Bono by the weekend that would be very helpful and would make a huge difference. Potentially, we could do some prep work, like taking off doors, and lightly sanding them to make it easier for the painter.

2. Sheet rock/Taper. The bathroom is Lath and Plaster and won’t take paint. There are cracks and needs a large amount of work. This is main bathroom in the house and the ultimate goal would be to remodel the entire bathroom (including vanity, shower and appliances with possible tile work). We are starting small until we can confirm more support (financial/labor/materials). The current plan is to either take down the plaster walls and sheet rock or possibly have a sheet rock expert do some patching and texture. We can then paint and trim. Same as above: We need affordable skilled labor and supplies or donations.

3. General Clean Up:We plan  to have things 90% put back together and could probably use a few hands this week and next weekend to plant stuff, fix sprinklers, install lights, clean up, some exterior paint etc.

Please let me know if you have time to help out, contacts for the above skilled projects or willingness to fund (or locate funding / donations) for the materials/improvements listed above.

Rich
rharrington_2002 (at) yahoo (dot) com
925-368-1099