Book of Dreams, 2023: From bike to dogs, stoves to sinks, here are our 10 stories
Since Thanksgiving, our staff has produced stories about 10 nonprofit organizations seeking help during this holiday season.
In response, readers of the Book of Dreams have opened their hearts and given generously. We work with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation to process and distribute that money so these organizations and others can continue their missions of serving the needy.
You can still give by going to www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/helping-others/book-of-dreams/
Here are brief descriptions of the 10 groups that were profiled during the past four weeks:
Mercy San Juan Hospital: MamaRoos
The hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is seeking $2,155 to purchase eight MamaRoo baby swings that mimic the rocking behavior of parents. The “lifesaver” swings help supplement care for all of the unit’s preterm babies, and are especially valuable for babies born with opioid exposure.
Loaves & Fishes: New stoves
Loaves & Fishes serves about 500 meals a day to Sacramento’s unhoused community and its 25-year-old stoves can’t keep up with the demand. They are often sputtering out and needing repair. The group, now 40 years old, is seeking $5,000 for six new stove/burner units.
Habitat for Humanity: Home repairs for veterans
Habitat for Humanity is asking for $13,185 for its program that helps veterans make vitally needed home repairs or upgrades, such as new roofs and new heating and air conditioning systems. It’s a ”hand up” program with recipients chipping in some of their own money and labor.
Elk Grove Food Bank: Mobile cooking classes
Elk Grove Food Bank Services needs $7,500 to help resume mobile cooking classes for seniors. The organization provides food for more than 16,000 people each month, up from about 5,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan is to supplement the food distribution with instruction on preparing unfamiliar items, including seasonal produce.
Stanford Sierra: Mentors for foster kids
Stanford Sierra Youth & Families is asking for $5,000 to aid its Wonder program, which matches past and current foster kids with caring mentors. Many of the children have faced hardships in their lives and Wonder connects them with an adult who is there solely for them and helps them restore trust in others.
Food Literacy Center: Recipe kits
The Food Literacy Center is seeking $4,500 to provide recipe and food takeout kits to help kids learn the value of good nutrition. The 12-year-old center shows students in low-income elementary schools how good nutrition, gardening and active play can improve their health and their environment.
Central California Lab Rescue: Pay the vet bills
Central California Labrador Retriever Rescue is asking for $7,500 to help with veterinary bills for the dogs it rescues from animal shelters. The all-volunteer group last year spent nearly $55,000 to rescue, care for and re-home 175 dogs, with the large majority of those costs going to vet services.
Boys 4 Bikes: Bikes for fun and necessity
Boys 4 Bikes was started by a group of third graders a decade ago and the same young men are still at it, having donated more than 500 bicycles over the years. They are seeking $5,000 to continue their mission of donating bicycles to foster kids and other needy youth in the Sacramento area. A significant number of bikes go to older youths who need them either to go to school or to a job.
916 Ink: Reading help
About $3,000 is being sought by 916 Ink to buy materials and create spaces for its literacy tutoring program. The organization started 12 years ago as a creative writing program but has evolved into what is essentially an intervention effort aimed at helping first through fifth graders who are falling behind in reading.
Stanford Settlement: Stainless steel sink
The Stanford Settlement is a social hub that provides a meeting place and daily lunches for about 100 seniors. The group is seeking $7,500 for a stainless steel heavy-duty sink, a reconfiguration of the kitchen space to accommodate it and a professional deep clean for the floors of the center.
