Temporary Help : Volunteers: Even if all you have to offer is a single free day, there are plenty of places that would welcome assistance on short notice.

It’s 1992, and the Me Decade is supposed to be behind us. You resolved to do more to help those less fortunate, but volunteer organizations need people they can count on.

You’re a free-lancer or in the entertainment industry. Either you’re working seven days a week, or you’re between gigs and waiting for your agent’s call. What if it comes during your shift on the suicide hot line? What do you do? Leave your distraught caller hanging?

True, you can’t commit yourself for next week when you’re not even sure about tomorrow. But what if you wake up today and your schedule is clear? Is there someplace you could volunteer?

“Most agencies, if you call them, will find something for you to do,” says volunteer specialist Barbara Bickell of the United Way regional office of the San Fernando Valley. Although some volunteer tasks require training and background checks, there are many ways you can help today.

Arthritis Foundation Executive Director Beth Goldsmith often needs volunteers to distribute pamphlets and register participants at lectures and medical fairs. If no fair is scheduled on the day you call, she can always use help addressing envelopes, filling pamphlet orders and answering the phone in the foundation’s Encino office. Call (818) 995-SERV. The address is 16633 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1014.

Call TreePeople most days, and they will probably put you to work preparing a mailing. But if you show up at their Mulholland Drive location on a Thursday or Saturday, you could help care for the trees in the nursery. That’s every week, and beginners are welcome. Call (818) 753-4600. They are at 12601 Mulholland Drive, Beverly Hills.

One Saturday each month, on an irregular schedule, Rhapsody in Green volunteers take on a special project such as restoring Pierce College’s Braille Trail. If you’re free on the right Saturday, you could find yourself planting trees or harvesting fruit for the needy. For details on the next project, call (213) 654-5821.

If you’re handy with a hammer, mop or paintbrush, you’re needed at the Salvation Army, San Fernando Valley Corps, 14917 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys. Help out in the food pantry if you prefer. Call (818) 781-5739.

Barbara Ausburn, volunteer coordinator of Loaves and Fishes II, 14525 Delano St., No. 102, in Van Nuys, can always use assistance in the food room or clothing room, at the intake counter or for answering phones. Call (818) 997-0943.

Janice Mayhew, volunteer specialist at the American Red Cross, 14717 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, can use help with public relations, clerical work, data entry and the switchboard. She especially needs volunteers when special events and blood drives are scheduled. Monday to Saturday call (818) 376-1731 or (805) 259-1805.

The Valley Women’s Center in Woodland Hills may need your help with the phones and clerical duties, depending on how many volunteers it has that day. Call (818) 716-7188. The center is at 20969 Ventura Blvd.

Ever drive a strange car and find you couldn’t get the key out?

Unfamiliarity with steering-column ignition locks results in car thefts and traffic fatalities. If you have expertise in marketing, the Automobile Safety Foundation in Encino wants your help informing the public about such facts. It prefers to conduct business by phone. Call (818) 905-2192.

At Activities for Retarded Children, 6456 Whitsett Ave., North Hollywood, you can help with gardening, crafts, schoolwork, sports and jobs such as washing the van. You might also be needed as a driver. Weekdays and Saturdays, call (818) 762-4365.

State Humane Officer Barbara Fabricant, who handles criminal abuse of animals, always needs typists and people to prepare mailings. Call (818) 341-7595. In Sun Valley, Diane Monahan of the Friends of Pets Foundation takes in mainly golden retrievers and Weimaraners. Her all-volunteer organization would appreciate help in bathing pets, taking blankets to the Laundromat, picking up animals in need of rescue or distributing literature at events. Call (818) 701-0674.

The American Cancer Society, 14602 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys, could use your help stuffing envelopes, putting “I Don’t Smoke” stickers on toys, or distributing literature at events. Call (818) 989-5555.

The American Heart Assn., 4741 Laurel Canyon Blvd., North Hollywood, needs volunteers at walks, runs and bike-a-thons. Call (800) 698-1156 on your free day and they will let you know if there’s something going on.

Jewish Family Service, 22622 Vanowen St., West Hills, can use help with typing, answering phones and some telephone interviews of new clients. Regional office director Sally Weber says, “We do need to screen volunteers and do training related to telephone work. We’d prefer to train a volunteer who could then work with us on a periodic but consistent basis.” Call (818) 587-3333.

Lutheran Social Services, 5015 Eagle Rock Blvd., Suite 204, Los Angeles, can use help with clerical tasks, phones and writing thank-you notes to donors. Call Susan Sprowls at (213) 254-3911.

The Boys and Girls Club, 11251 Glenoaks Blvd., Pacoima, needs volunteers to assist with programs, data entry and special events. Call (818) 896-5261.

Assisting the Disabled With Employment Placement and Training (ADEPT), 15643 Sherman Way, Suite 150, Van Nuys, can always use help with photocopying, typing, filing, watering plants, collating information packets and answering the phone. Call (818) 782-3378.

Ken Castro, director of development for the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council, says its food pantries always need people to bag and distribute groceries.

All year long the council delivers 10,000 meals a month to shut-ins. Some volunteers never miss a day, but others come and go, so if you called on any given day, there would be somebody who couldn’t make it--and somebody waiting for the meal you could deliver.

The council’s senior center always needs people to visit and help out. And through the cold weather months, affiliated churches and synagogues help the homeless by providing meals, human contact and other kinds of support such as job counseling. Staff members can use you to help distribute food, or if you have special expertise, such as job counseling, they can use that too. Call (818) 718-6460. The center is at 10824 Topanga Canyon Blvd.