Donors get web wish lists from homeless

VANCOUVER, CALGARY -- The simply written, personal biographies hint at the terrible loneliness and longing that visit the homeless each Christmas.

Heartbreaking, too, are the humble requests penned by those who live and sleep on the streets of two of Canada's most prosperous cities.

Dwayne A., a 49-year-old Vancouver roofer, wants bus tickets and gloves. Jerome L., 50, a transplanted Newfoundlander living in Calgary, is a would-be poet who wants a dictionary. Kari H., a 38-year-old widow who has battled drugs, wishes "my kids and family would talk to me again."