Five years ago, the Anchorage Daily News began the Book of Dreams as a simple way to connect those who have lost hope with those who can offer it. Every year, we publish stories you've told us about your neighbors, friends and family members. Every year, readers like you help meet their needs and wishes.

Pat Dougherty Daily News editor

If there is a theme to the 2000 Book of Dreams, it is the amazing resilience of human beings. In story after story, individuals seeking help are already working hard to master their own difficulties.

Like Michael Hutchins, a 30-year-old construction worker and single dad who lost the use of both legs in a snowmachine accident; he's building his own accessible home. Or the Saechao family, Laotian refugees burned out of the trailer their father was buying. Grateful to be alive, their dad continues to work hard to provide a better life for them in America. Or Betty Harper, asking to bring her disabled granddaughter to Alaska so she and her four sons can be the cushion the girl and her mother need. In case after case, families pull together and bravely go forward, despite setbacks.

Ryan Belden, a friend of the injured snowmachiner, personally committed a crew to help him build his home. He said Hutchins deserves a boost because he's already done so much to help himself.

"He's probably the best guy that you'll ever meet,'' Belden said. "It was impressive. I probably don't have what it takes to be quite the man he is.''

We can acknowledge the hard work of these individuals by lending a hand, and many hands make a huge obstacle so much easier to overcome.

Book of Dreams readers last year donated nearly $67,000, an amount that allowed us to fulfill 14 dreams and contribute to the Neighbor to Neighbor fund, which helps Alaskans year-round. Administered by the Daily News since 1983, the fund provides families with one-time emergency support distributed through member organizations: Catholic Social Services, Lutheran Social Services and the Salvation Army. Readers have donated more than $1.1 million since the effort began.

If you are able to help, please use the form on this page to indicate which person, family or agency you wish to benefit. Donations of any amount for any of these dreams are welcome. (If the item description involves volunteer work, fill out the form and send it in as you would any other donation. The Book of Dreams will pass along all offers of help to the appropriate recipients.)

We will make sure each donation gets to the right person. None of the money raised will be used to pay the expenses of administering this project. The Daily News covers those costs.

Donations may also be made online; just go to adn.com and click on "Book of Dreams." Online donors will be prompted to give set amounts rather than designating specific recipients. The donations will be used first to fulfill dreams in the Book, then distributed to those in need through the Neighbor to Neighbor fund.

You may make your donation in the name of a friend or in memory of a loved one. We will include you in a published list of donors, unless you request anonymity. And on Christmas Day, we will publish stories and photos about some of the dreams you helped fulfill.

We know from our experience in years past that you will help. We thank you.

This year's results:

Dreams granted
Gifts from Daily News readers bring happier holidays to Alaskans in need A family separated by thousands of miles was reunited, a high school senior with Down syndrome advanced a step closer to independence and an aspiring journalist who delayed her education to help her ailing grandmother has registered for her first semester of classes -- all thanks to the generosity of readers who responded to the Book of Dreams.

Your contributions made dreams come true for many in need
List of donors through Dec. 21.

Moving toward independence
Service High School senior Mariah Godes is not handicapped.

A clearer view
Melody Dye enters the dialysis center at Renal Care Group Anchorage as though it's a party and she's the hostess.

Keeping cool during a crisis
Teenage girls arriving at the Alaska Youth and Parent Foundation's Challenge shelter are surprised to find their temporary lodging is not an institution, but a typical four-bedroom house in a residential Anchorage neighborhood.

Bringing a family together
Betty Harper says she has the kind of family everyone should have.

Working for a better future
Last Christmas, Daretha Tolbert got the best gift she could imagine: her mother, at home with her at last.

Small gifts for four lovely people
Caring for four developmentally and physically disabled adults is demanding, agrees "house parent" Tommy Cavazos as he lifts a smiling man from a wheelchair into a recliner. But he and partner Mary McNilty can't imagine a better job.

Spirits strong despite fire
The night Sept. 28, Yoon V. Saechao was reviewing homework with his four children when the smoke alarm went off. Investigating his trailer's small furnace room, he found flames.

A boost for the family
In the hour Michael Hutchins lay in the snow waiting for his brother-in-law to return, he hoped anxiously for feeling to return to his legs.

Looking for a lift
From the time she was a baby, Charlotte Young has had one leg slightly larger than the other. As she became an adult, she developed a marble-sized lump on her left leg, caused by a cluster of extra veins called a venous angioma.

Cooking in the dark
Another graduation, and the staff and clients of the Alaska Center for the Blind are celebrating as they always do: with a home-cooked meal prepared by their most recent "Activities of Daily Living" graduate.

Hoping to lose
Gaylene Williams knew she'd gained a lot of weight. It was impossible to ignore. Ever since a 1998 knee injury at work stopped her from the daily, mile-long walks to and from her job, she'd been putting on the pounds.

Looking for improvement
It's easy to leave a conversation with 15-year-old Jeff Huntsman feeling you didn't connect.

Putting others first
Kristie Neumann has never known a time when her grandmother wasn't near.

A little bit of breathing room
A brain tumor? When Prudhoe Bay ironworker and welder T. Frank Box got the diagnosis, he couldn't believe it.

Fred Delaney is one of four residents of a Hope Community Resources home. Caretakers are requesting home entertainment items, furniture and help taking the residents to dinner and the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

Writer: Sonya Senkowsky

Photographer: Marc Lester

Photo Editor: Anne Raup

Copy Editor: Jeff Merritt

Print Designer: Kevin Powell

Project Coordinator: Jola Morris

Editor: Kathleen McCoy

Web Designer/Online Editor: Roger Price