7th Annual Sleve Open Golf Tournament

Welcome to the 7th Annual Sleve Open Golf Tournament

A Celebration of the Life of Steve Johnson.

This year’s event will be held on:

Friday, June 12th *(please note the date change) at the Little Crow Country Club located on Highway 23 between New London and Spicer.

The tournament is a four person scramble and interested players can sign up as a team or individually. Cost for the tournament is $80.00 for non-members, $60.00 for LCCC members and NEW this year: 18 Hole Junior rate (anyone entering grades 9-12) $40.00. The 9-hole kid’s tourney continues to be a big hit and is a bargain at $25.00. Those wishing to attend only the dinner and Memorial Fountain gathering can purchase tickets at $15.00 each.

New option for Donating! This year we will also be offering Hole Sponsorships:

• Blue Sponsor $400 – Includes 4 golf packages (value of $320), hole sponsorship with hole sign

• Silver Sponsor $250 – Includes 2 golf packages (value of $160), hole sponsorship with hole sign

• Hole Sponsor $100 – Includes hole sponsorship with hole sign

This year the Sleve Open will continue to support Hearts of Hope Camp (formally known as Camp Amanda-Minnesota), a free camp for children and teens who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, close relative or significant person in their life. Please see our web site for more information, www.childrensgriefconnection.com.

To sign up, please complete and return the Registration/Donation Form found on our homepage. Registration will be accepted until the day of the event; however your response by June 9th is appreciated. Donations can be mailed in advance if you are unable to attend. All donations are tax deductible.

The Sleve Open is not an invitation only event – we appreciate your help in spreading the word. Please feel free to call or email if you have any questions regarding the event.

Event Schedule – Friday, June 12, 2009

Noon: Tournament Registration
1:00 PM: Golf Begins
3:00 PM: Kids Award Ceremony & Lunch
6:00 PM: Meal and Silent Auction
7:30 PM: Memorial Fountain Gathering

Grief Shared is Grief Diminished

by Jerry Brown

The Children’s Grief Connection (formerly Camp Amanda) was born in the Fall of 2000 and the first Camp Amanda Grief Resolution Gathering was held at Camp Friendship in Annandale, Minnesota in January 2003.

I was fortunate to attend the first camp…rode horseback with Art Dingmann into Camp Courage as part of our 2007 Horseback for Hope Odyssey…and was drafted for “KITCHEN K-P (pots and pans) during last month’s conclave.

The eloquent and comprehensive prose of Coral Popowitz apprises us monthly of the plans, programs, visions and activities of the children’s program so my comments will simply describe what I have seen, heard, experienced and absorbed since camp #1.


THE KIDS:

From the innocence, love, honesty and unbridled candor of the children came a rush of emotions within me that belied the myth, “grown men should never cry.”

Yes, I cried.

I cried when seven year old Matthew showed me his photo wallet that was replete with snapshots of his dad whom had died in a construction accident two months earlier.

When the adorable Matthew learned of my Montana buffalo ranch he spent the next three hours telling his newly-found friends that “he was moving to Jerry Brown’s ‘farm’ to ride horses like he and his dad had done the week before he was killed.”

On the last day of camp, Matthew gave me one of the pictures in his ‘dad-wallet.’

I cried when I overheard two 8 year old girls sharing their feelings about how breast cancer had caused the death of their mothers and why couldn’t doctors find a cure?”

I cried when a young girl wrote on ‘the anger wall,’ “Mommy, why didn’t you quit smoking like you promised us?”

I cried when a 9 year old boy, between gut-wrenching sobs and barely audible words, revealed that his little brother had drowned in the Snake River while the family was vacationing in Wyoming.

And I wept when a brother and sister asked a counselor, “Why God had allowed their mother to die and make them feel so sad?”


THE KIDS AND THE WONDERFUL STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS:

I cried and silently cheered as I watched the bittersweet events of each gathering unfold and I shall always believe that CAMP AMANDA (a.k.a. HEARTS OF HOPE) is the quintessential achievement of Minnesota Funeral Service

A thousand accolades and 10,000 thanks to Coral, Steve, the staff, the directors, the volunteers, our omnipresent photographer KEN PETERSON and above all…to the parents and young people who have discovered HOPE and HEALING through the shining epiphanies of each journey.

So, emanating from the essence and eloquence of the verse – GOD GAVE US MEMORY SO WE WOULD HAVE ROSES IN DECEMBER – may the memories of each and every child be tender, loving and filled with happiness and hope.

Ergo, let us never forget that “grief shared is indeed grief diminished” and upon this moving and resonant truism, the CHILDRENS GRIEF CONNECTION was born and lives as a gift from those who truly care…or, as the kids would say, “GOOD GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN!”