Each holiday season for more than two decades, in good times and in tough years, The Bee has helped this community carry out some good deeds.
Through an annual effort called The Book of Dreams, The Bee shares stories of local people who need help and offers readers a way to contribute money. Each year, through recessions and booms, the community has responded generously.
We'll begin sharing our 2008 Book of Dreams stories on Thanksgiving Day and continue over several weeks.
The dreams of our featured characters often are more practical than whimsical. Last year, a 3-year-old who suffers from a rare bone disorder got a new play tunnel, Braille books and other items.
Sometimes people need computers, infant formula to feed babies whose parents are in crisis, or survival items.
The Book of Dreams stories and photographs, however, go beyond identifying needs and wishes. Each takes us into the life of a child or a family, often sharing insights and surprises through words and photographs.
Those stories appear in the paper and in multimedia form at www.sacbee.com.
To identify people for these feature stories, The Bee turns to nonprofit help agencies in our region. They nominate families, individuals and organizations, sometimes their own, with specific requests.
A group of Bee employees from across our company then selects a subset of the nominees to feature in the paper. The Bee committee relies on agencies to help with vetting the nominees, and further reviews people through the reporting process.
The nominations are approved by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation board, which houses the Book of Dreams Fund.
Last year, readers contributed more than $166,000. Fifteen "dreams" were fulfilled. In addition, 27 grants went out to nonprofit organizations that help children and families.
None of the money was used for administrative costs.
If you want to contribute this season, send donations to The Sacramento Bee Book of Dreams Fund, 2100 Q St., Sacramento, CA 95816.
The Book of Dreams campaign, like all assistance efforts, is especially helpful in a time when foreclosures, layoffs and program cuts dominate the economic picture.
Our campaign, however, is just one of many aimed in our region at helping people during the holidays and beyond.
The Bee is an important connector between people who need help and people who want to provide help, and our coverage will work to share information on both sides of that equation. Look for more stories and information in the weeks ahead.
Reach The Bee's editor, Melanie Sill, at (916) 321-1002.
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