Book of Dreams: Our annual charitable campaign allows you to find joy in giving
Many will say grace before the Thanksgiving meal, offering gratitude for the blessing of food and family. We take that moment to express how grateful we are for what we have received. We can also be grateful for what we can give.
And you can act on that feeling by helping others feel that sublime sense of grace and thanks. In the season of giving and peace, The Sacramento Bee annually presents our Book of Dreams, a charitable effort to fulfill exactly what the name says — dreams for those in need.
For more than three decades — we are in our 36th year — we have been asking for your help in creating more pathways to goodwill in the Sacramento region. Each year we solicit nominations from worthy causes, select 10 and, between now and Christmas, tell their stories with specific requests and price tags. We are grateful that you take the time to read, absorb and feel our heartfelt words and images.
We rely on your keen interest in learning about our communities. They rely on your kindness.
Our first story, by Lori Korleski Richardson, peers inside the kitchen at Sacramento’s Loaves & Fishes. Here, chef Edwin Burton works miracles, wrangling with stoves a quarter-century old, often in need of repair, to make food for 500 guests, homeless and hungry. Loaves & Fishes needs new stoves. “Everyone needs help sometime in their lives,” he said.
In offering help, he needs help.
What giving takes
Why should you give to our effort? You face myriad requests to give, whether the solicitation to donate appears on that payment pad at the store or comes from someone standing on the front porch, knocking on the door. You can feel as if the world has its hand out as the requests multiply.
We also know you can start to tune them out. Philanthropic groups refer to “donor fatigue,” and consider ways to address it. Two of those are transparency and consequences, helping those who open their wallets to know exactly what is being requested and seeing how your generosity yields specific results.
And that’s what Book of Dreams does. Through our stories, you will see exactly what people need, and why, and will be able to read about the joy your kindness brings.
What we do and who we are
We work with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation to administer the funds you provide. Last year, you joyfully contributed more than $100,000, and that helped build an aviary at Effie Yeaw Nature Center, provide support for those with MS and bring a taste of home, with appropriate clothing, to Ukranian refugees.
This year, among our 10 stories, we aim to help a neonatal unit buy comforting baby swings, provide for home repairs for veterans and aid an organization caring for dogs who found homes during the pandemic and now have been abandoned. We also fund other requests nominated but not selected for stories.
These stories are sensitively reported by Richardson, a former member of The Bee newsroom and in her second year contributing to Book of Dreams. Tony Bizjak, a former Bee reporter, also is in year two. Joining them is Patricia Macht, a Book of Dreams veteran. The visuals are produced and coordinated by our editors Lezlie Sterling and Nathaniel Levine.
Behind the project are Bob Shallit, a former editor at The Bee, and Terri Yamagata, who makes sure we field the requests and works closely with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.
Our team of Book of Dreamers has provided simple mechanisms for you to donate money. For information and to see past stories, you can go to our page, sacbee.com/bookofdreams.
Enjoy your holiday and we hope you can find some joy in blessing others with grace.
— Scott Lebar, managing editor