Here's how you can help

PARTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS are welcome on any item. Your check or money order will serve as your receipt. Please do not mail cash. In cases where more money is received than requested for a given need, the excess will be donated to nonprofit community groups selected by the Book of Dreams selection committee.

The Book of Dreams cannot accept items donated by individuals. For more information about corporate donations, please call (916) 556-5667.

The Sacramento Bee staff has researched each case included in this book. We have verified that the facts presented herein are accurate. However, The Sacramento Bee makes no claim, implied or otherwise, concerning the validity of the requests beyond the statement of these facts.

The Book of Dreams Fund
The Sacramento Bee
P.O. Box 15779
Sacramento, CA 95852

Make a donation online

Please make checks or money orders payable to The Book of Dreams Fund and return to the following address. In order to claim your 2006 donation as a tax deduction, all donations must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2006. To have your name listed in the thank-you ad, published Feb. 2007, donations must be received by Jan. 13, 2007.

Administered by Sacramento Region Community Foundation

A letter to our readers

THIS IS A TIME OF THE YEAR when many of us give thanks for our good fortune and extend a helping hand to those in need.

Over the past two decades, you, our readers, have contributed generously to The Bee's Book of Dreams, and by doing so, you have brightened the holiday season for hundreds of residents in our region.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Book of Dreams, and the need is just as great as ever. As always, 100 percent of your contributions go to grant holiday wishes to needy individuals and non-profit agencies from throughout our region.

We truly appreciate your two decades of generosity that have made all those dreams we've written about and more come true. Please join us again in reaching out to the 24 individuals and nonprofit groups profiled in this year's Book of Dreams.

We can help people like 18-year-old Geoffrey Prettyman of Elk Grove, a budding artist and an Eagle Scout who graduated from high school with a 4.0 grade point average despite being hearing impaired. Geoffrey is continuing his studies and hopes to become an artist and animator for Disney. His dream: a new laptop computer to help with his studies and to communicate with friends.

For clients of the Mother-Baby Program of the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, the request is much more basic: help to pay for toothbrushes for children. When families are struggling to make ends meet, program managers note, proper dental hygiene isn't always a top priority.

Tragedy brought the Vo family to Sacramento. Three of five daughters suffered serious burns in a house fire in Vietnam that killed their mother about six years ago. The injured daughters came with their father to receive treatment for their burns at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Northern California; two other daughters joined them later. Today, the burn victims are still being treated and the family of six lives in a one-bedroom home. Yet they feel fortunate because they are together. Their dream is to memorialize their unity with a professional family portrait.

And then there is "Albertito" Salomon, full of energy, optimism, joy and compassion despite having suffered terrible burns over 90 percent of his body when he was 3. Officials at the Firefighters Burn Institute have asked for a desk and chair for the brave youngster as he starts home schooling.

There are 20 more cases of need in this section. To make a donation using our secure online system, click here. You can also find donation links on each story.

If you want to make a donation in the name or memory of a loved one, please do so. Except for those who request anonymity, the names of all the donors will be printed in an ad in The Bee.

All donations are tax-deductible, and none of the money received will be spent on administrative costs. All your donations will go directly to helping individuals and groups in need.

Your generosity over the years has been truly inspiring. Please help once again to bring joy into the lives of others who need and deserve it. On Dec. 24 we'll publish stories of the people and agencies you've helped, and we'll all have happier holidays.

Thank you for your support and readership. Our best wishes to you and your families this holiday season.

Rick Rodriguez
Executive Editor

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