For more information on the following volunteer opportunities, please call Volunteer Houston at 713-965-0031, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additional opportunities can be found at www.volunteerhouston.org.

THIS IS THE TIME of year that a local chapter of a foreign exchange program is beginning to recruit host families for the fall academic semester. Students from all around the world will arrive in August to attend schools in Montgomery County and neighboring locales. These youngsters are 16 to 18 years old, all speak English, and they have their own insurance and living allowances. Call now to find out more about this exciting cultural experience available to you and your family.

MAKE A PHONE CALL and brighten a lonely senior citizen's day. As a volunteer for a telephone reassurance program serving the Woodlands area, you can be assigned an elderly person to call at an agreed upon time during the daytime or evening. If your phone friend can't answer the call, the sponsoring agency will send someone to the home to determine if a problem exists. Three to five minutes a day is all that's involved in this potentially life-saving activity.

TEND THE GIFT SHOP at a hospital in The Woodlands. Duties will include operating the cash register, stocking shelves, and helping customers make their selections. Weekly three-hour shifts are currently available on weekdays during the morning or afternoon. The hospital is hoping to recruit enough new volunteers to be able to keep the gift shop open on weekday evenings and Saturdays starting in the near future. Volunteers should be at least 18 years of age.

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, the safety of persons throughout Montgomery County can depend in large part on the effective response of trained volunteers. You can become one of these critically important volunteers by joining a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) supported by a network of city, county, state, and private agencies. Register now for an upcoming 20-hour CERT training series.