Do you need information about quality in-home and community-based services for older adults in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties?

How about helping children and teens keep up their studies, building on their academic potential after school and during the summer?

Know an immigrant who is in need of legal services?

Looking to help a parent or grandparent fight heart disease in Broward County?

What about nurturing love for the arts so that those who can’t afford to see an orchestra can be treated to a performance?

These are among the services provided by nonprofits in South Florida. Whether it’s the Alliance for Aging, the Academic Achievers Institute, the American Children’s Orchestras for Peace, Amigos for Kids, the American Friends Committee, the American Heart Association, Actors’ Playhouse or the Alhambra Orchestra, there are hundreds of community organizations and national groups, small and big, contributing to South Florida’s well-being in the arts, health, civil rights and justice. In this season of giving, you have an opportunity to “pay it forward” in ways that can revitalize our community as the economy strengthens.

One way to step up is through The Miami Foundation, which has launched a unique online event called Give Miami Day. At the end of Tuesday, starting at midnight Wednesday for 24 hours, you can click on GiveMiamiDay.org and find the nonprofits and charities of your choice to help key groups in greater Miami. There’s plenty to pick from: 241 online pages in all, listing the organizations that hundreds of thousands count on throughout the year for help.

With just a few clicks, enter your debit or credit card information at the secure site and you can give to as many groups as you want. And get this: Every online donation between $25 and $10,000 will be matched by a percentage by The Miami Foundation.

This is a great way to expand on proven programs and to help our neighbors. The foundation’s own studies and those conducted by groups like CEOs for Cities and the Knight Foundation have found that people who live here love this place but many feel disconnected. One of the reasons may be that so many people here arrived from somewhere else and haven’t built a tradition yet of giving back. By contrast, other communities with deep roots have a long history of giving to community causes.

The Miami Foundation was established in 1967 by philanthropists who wanted to contribute to the place that gave them so much. From helping the homeless get shelter to teaching kids to read, to championing a diverse community for gays and straights and nurturing the arts, the foundation has more than $160 million in charitable assets, thanks to people who keep paying it forward.

“Fostering relationships throughout the community through the work of nonprofit organizations brings the community closer together for all the right reasons,” said Nancy Jones, Miami Foundation vice president for development and communications. “We look forward to the community getting behind Give Miami Day, because it is one day when their gifts will truly give more.”

Go to GiveMiamiDay.org and share your blessings on 12/12/12.