The 7th Annual Dan Slarve Invitational is taking place this year on Friday October 10, 2014. Please join us to help celebrate Dan’s memory.

The event will consist of a putting contest, golf tournament, BBQ dinner and raffle. There will be a number of “2nd chance” items, long drive, closest to the pin and new for this year…the Bubba Watson hole. The cost for the event will be $150 per person. Please RSVP by Friday, October 3rd if you plan to attend so we can provide final numbers to the venue.

Event: 7th Annual Dan Slarve Invitational
When: Friday, October 10, 2014 (Golf: Check-in 11:30 am, Putting Contest 12:00 pm, Tee-off 12:30 PM, Reception, Dinner and Raffle to follow
Where: Boundary Oak Golf Course • 3800 Valley Vista Road • Walnut Creek, CA 94598 • 925-934-4775
Cost: $150
RSVP: RSVP on Facebook or send me a message by Friday October 3, 2014

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), 510-697-3373 .

The event this year will consist of a putting contest, golf tournament, BBQ dinner and raffle. There will be a number of “2nd chance” items, long drive, closest to the pin and new for this year…the Bubba Watson hole. The cost for the event will be $150 per person.  Please RSVP by Friday, October 8th 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: 6th Annual Dan Slarve Invitational 

When: Friday, October 11, 2013 (Golf: Check-in 11:30 am, Putting Contest 12:00 pm, Tee-off 12:30 PM, Reception, Dinner and Raffle to follow

Where: Boundary Oak Golf Course • 3800 Valley Vista Road • Walnut Creek, CA 94598 • 925-934-4775 925-934-4775 FREE 

Cost:  $150 RSVP: click here to RSVP or reply via email by Tuesday October 8, 2013

This year Barbara and the children have asked any money raised be donated to Camp Erin. Camp Erin, created and funded by The Moyer Foundation, is the largest nationwide network of free bereavement camps for children and teens ages 6-17 who have experienced the death of someone close to them.  One of the ways we raise money for this cause is through a raffle. If you are interested in donating an item/experience/service for the raffle, please send me an email (tmarshburn at yahoo (dot) com) listing the details. We would like to have a complete list by Tuesday October 8, 2013.

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), 510-697-3373  .

Suggested Attire: Golf, Casual

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 $150 per person. If you only plan to attend the dinner and auction, the cost is $50. Please RSVP by Friday, October 12th 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: 5th Annual Slarve Family Benefit
When: Friday, October 19, 2012 (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: $150 for the package ($100 golf, $50 dinner if you are only )
RSVP: click here to RSVP or visit our Facebook page by October 12, 2012

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 12, 2012.

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

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.