A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES : Getting Involved : RONNIE SCHNEL, <i> Businesswoman, Palos Verdes.</i>

We read the Testimony interview (Voices, Sept. 28) with Nancy Berlin, who works at the child-care center at Las Familias del Pueblo. The article hit us--it got us motivated. We were compelled to do something.

“We” means me and my friends, Janice Taus (a nurse and homemaker) and Jan Adams (an attorney). We went to Las Familias and talked with Alice Callaghan. (Editors note: Callaghan was profiled in the Times Magazine Nov. 10, 1991, as “The Woman Who Saved Skid Row.”)

We don’t want to come on like gangbusters because the people at Las Familias have their own completely capable style. It’s totally focused on the children’s needs--making a clean, safe, comfortable place for them.

“What can we do?” we asked. What they need is practical help, not a lot of unfocused do-gooding. We’re starting with a six-month commitment to provide supplies. “Give us a shopping list,” we said. We’ll go to the Price Club and deliver once a month, since they don’t have any storage space--things like cleaning supplies, toilet paper, even pencils, which they need.

In a month or so we want to go back and try to do more, to maybe go in some afternoons and be “silent arms and big hearts” for the kids. We’ll just take direction.