One Southwest Virginia high school alumni class is coming together to raise funds and help a family in need, by sponsoring a fun-filled 12-hour softball marathon and silent auction.

The Narrows High School Class of 1984 will host the first-ever “Emily Beamer Softball Marathon” on Saturday, May 23 at the Pennington-Clark Sports Complex on Lurich Road in Narrows with the first pitch starting at 7 a.m.

Emily Beamer is the 11-year old daughter of Malinda Holdren Beamer, a 1984 Narrows High School graduate, and John Beamer, a 1979 Carroll County graduate, who currently lives in Hillsville. Emily was diagnosed with a pineoblastoma brain tumor on March 13, 2008 and has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment at Duke University since that time.

Ellen Hawks, one of the coordinators for the event, says, “This year, instead of having the normal ‘dinner and dance’ reunion, we wanted to get together in support of Malinda and her family. What better way to spend our 25th reunion than spending the day with our families raising money to help out a friend.”

Since word of the softball marathon first spread, quite a few individuals began forming teams and started to collect donations from friends, neighbors and co-workers. Unlike a highly competitive softball tournament, there are no entry fees and no trophies will be awarded in the softball marathon. Instead, team members will collect donations on a per-game or per-inning basis.

In addition to the softball donations, class members have been collecting items for a silent auction that will take place throughout the day. Some of the auction items donated so far include two Disney “Park Hopper” passes that are good through December 17, 2010, a Virginia Tech football autographed by head coach Frank Beamer, a basketball autographed by Brittany Cook and the members of the Virginia Tech womens basketball team, two UNC Tar Heels basketball home game tickets in the famed “Dean Dome,” a pair of binoculars valued at $400, throw blankets, a hand-made queen size quilt, lamps, beauty care products, jewelry, home décor items, and plenty of shopping and dining gift cards from merchants throughout the New River Valley and beyond.

A concession stand will be open all day serving breakfast, lunch, drinks and snacks. And a 50/50 drawing is also scheduled during the afternoon.

“Even though all team slots have been filled, we ask that you bring a lawn chair and come watch a couple of the games. Bid on silent auction items. Eat breakfast or lunch at our concession stand. Our goal is to show the Beamer family they are not in this fight alone and the success of that depends on the community getting behind it and coming out to be a part of this special day,” said Hawks.

In addition to team members gathering donations, contributions to the event are also being accepted. The Pennington-Clark Sports Complex is located on the Lurich Road (Route 649), near the Narrows Livestock Market.

For more information, contact Ellen Hawks at (540) 726-8008, or James Riffe at (540) 726-8398.