HOW YOU CAN HELP

Hospice of Saddleback Valley needs volunteers to spend three to four hours a week helping terminally ill patients and their families. Training provided at the Laguna Hills office. Kathleen Bunge, (949) 598-3040.

Harry and Grace Steele Children’s Center at Orange Coast College seeks volunteers to adopt a family for the holidays. Families are headed by student-parents with young children. Vicki Borthwick, (714) 432-5569.

Boys Hope/Girls Hope Inc. in Garden Grove, which helps children who are hurt and at-risk, needs donations of gift certificates, Walkman- and Discman-type audio players, videocassettes, bicycles and scooters. Call for information on specific clothing needs. Shauna Antley, (714) 537-3211.

Walking Shield American Indian Society, which helps children living on and off reservations, seeks donations of new and unwrapped toys, money, toiletries and new blankets. It also needs volunteers to help pack, sort and prepare items for shipping. John Castillo, (714) 978-8072.

The Women’s Transitional Living Center in Orange, which shelters victims of domestic abuse, seeks donations of gift certificates for grocery and clothing stores, new women’s hairbrushes, journals, socks and underwear in all sizes. Lorraine Taylor, (714) 992-1939.

Operation Santa Claus and Senior Santa and Friends, which help children and seniors who have been abused or are mentally challenged, in foster care or homeless, seek donations of new and unwrapped gifts for children, teens and seniors, cash donations and gift certificates. Jane Dawson, (714) 834-7440.

The Orange County Health Care Agency in Santa Ana seeks donations of supermarket gift certificates and donors for its adopt-a-family program. Amber Hannigan, (714) 834-4144.

Mercy House Transitional Living Centers, which help the homeless, seek donations of toiletries and gift certificates from drugstores and restaurants. Katy MacGregor, (714) 836-7188.

Food Finders Inc. in Seal Beach, which feeds the hungry in Orange and Los Angeles counties, seeks donations of food, toys, money, toiletries and warm new clothing. Arlene Mercer, (562) 598-3003.

The Salvation Army of Orange County seeks donations of toys for children in infancy through age 12, nonperishable food, stocking stuffers, candy and toiletries for adult men and women in the homeless shelter. Pamela Caldwell, (714) 832-7100, Ext. 236.

For more opportunities:

* The Volunteer Center of Greater Orange County, a resource center for volunteers and nonprofit organizations. Call (714) 953-5757, Ext. 106, or visit its Web site at https://www.volunteercenter.org.

* The Volunteer Exchange, (714) 899-6849.