Here's our gift to you: A list of the most useful organizations, agencies, government departments and other entities to which you can turn for help. We encourage everyone to empower themselves and assert their independence by saving this information.

• Miami-Dade County: The county's website, www.miamidade.gov, lists departments and services, with contact information. If you're not sure which agency you're looking for, call or e-mail the 311 Answer Center, open weekdays (except holidays), from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Simply dial 3-1-1. Its website is www.miamidade.gov/311.

Here are some other Miami-Dade resources:

• Miami-Dade Police Department, nonemergency, is 305-4-POLICE (305-476-5423).

• Consumer Services Department, www.miamidade.gov/csd, can assist with complaints regarding the purchase of goods or services if the transaction occurred within the county or involved a county business. The department also regulates vehicle repair shops, taxicabs and towing companies. Call 305-375-3677.

• Building Code Compliance, www.miamidade.gov/buildingcode, 305-375-2901, can help if you want to check whether a contractor is licensed, or if you need to file a complaint about a county-licensed contractor. If the contractor is licensed by the state, call 305-470-5617 or go to the website of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, www.myflorida.com/dbpr.

• Switchboard of Miami, www.switchboardmiami.org, provides crisis intervention counseling, suicide prevention efforts and information and referral services 24 hours a day; 305-358-HELP (305-358-4357).

• The Elder Helpline, www.allianceforaging.org, 305-670-4357, provides a single contact point within Miami-Dade and Monroe counties for people seeking answers to questions about aging issues and the services and opportunities available to older adults.

• The University of Florida/Miami-Dade County Extension Service, http://miami-dade.ifas.ufl.edu, 305-248-3311 or dade@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, can answer gardening/yard questions, help solve your bug and pest problems, provide practical nutrition education to seniors and children on limited resources and a great deal more.

• Broward County: The county's main website is www.broward.org. Since most of Broward is comprised of municipalities, one number to memorize is the county's call center, 954-831-4000. It maintains contact information for departments, agencies and municipalities within the county, including some in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.

Useful Broward resources:

• Broward Sheriff's Office nonemergency number is 954-765-4321.

• Broward County Consumer Affairs Division, www.broward.org/consumer, 954-765-5350, enforces the consumer code and helps protect the public from unfair and deceptive trade practices. It also regulates auto repair/auto paint and body shops, local moving companies, taxi and limousine operators, title loan companies and towing charges for nonconsent tows.

To file a complaint about any contractor licensed by Broward, call 954-765-4890. If the contractor is licensed by the state, call the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, 954-917-1330, or go to www.myflorida.com/dbpr.

• Broward's crisis/suicide intervention and referral agency is First Call for Help, www.211broward.com. The free, 24-hour, confidential help line is 2-1-1 from within the county or 954-537-0211 from elsewhere.

• Senior Connection, www.seniorsummit.org, 954-714-3464, is the Area Agency for Aging's referral service, available to residents 60 years and over.

• The Broward County Extension Education Division, http://broward.ifas.ufl.edu, 954-370-3725, assists residents with questions on residential horticulture, urban pests, parenting, nutrition, personal finance, hurricane preparedness and more.

• Monroe County: The official county website is www.co.monroe.fl.us, and the switchboard numbers for the county are 305-294-4641 (Key West), 305-743-0079 (Marathon) and 305-852-1469 (Plantation Key).

• The Monroe County Sheriff's Office, www.keysso.net, serves all of the Keys. The nonemergency number is 305-289-2430.

• The crisis intervention/suicide prevention hot line is 800-273-4558.

• The Monroe County Cooperative Extension Service, http://monroe.ifas.ufl.edu, located in Key West, offers consumer information and can answer questions about gardening and pest management in the Keys' unique environment. Call 305-292-4501 or e-mail monroe@ifas.ufl.edu.

More resources for South Florida residents:

• Help with credit problems is available through Consumer Credit Counseling Services of South Florida. Call, toll-free, 800-355-2227 to schedule an appointment.

• The Federal Trade Commission enforces consumer protection laws. It offers online information about consumers' rights under federal credit laws such as the Fair Debt Collection Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

If a debt collector is illegally harassing you, file a complaint online at www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm or by calling, toll-free, 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357).

• The Florida Division of Consumer Services, www.800helpfla.com or, toll-free, 800-HELP-FLA (800-435-7352) can help direct you to the appropriate government agency. Its website includes a series of publications explaining how the tenant/landlord law and the auto lemon law work.

• To check on a business or file a complaint about one, contact the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida, www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org, or 561-842-1918.

• The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles operates the Florida Highway Patrol; issues driver's licenses and ID cards; records registrations and titles of motor vehicles and vessels; licenses vehicle dealerships; and investigates consumer complaints about dealerships. For details and a list of office locations, go to www.hsmv.state.fl.us or call 850-922-9000 (this is a long- distance call).

• If you need an attorney but have limited financial means, call the lawyer referral service of the Florida Bar, toll-free, at 800-342-8011 for a low-cost, 30-minute consultation. If you think a lawyer has acted unethically, call the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program, toll-free, at 866-352-0707. If you need legal information, the Bar offers Call-A-Law, a series of two- to three-minute recorded messages on more than 60 legal topics. You need a push-button phone to access the service. Call 850-561-1200 for instructions. (This is also a long-distance call.) Call-A-Law scripts are available for free on the Bar's website, www.flabar.org.

• The Florida Department of Financial Services assists consumers on a variety of topics, including insurance, investments, mortgage loans, short-term loans and more. Call, toll-free, 800-342-2762, or log on to www.fldfs.com.

• To understand your rights as an employee, turn to the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, www.dol.gov/esa/whd. If you think your employer isn't complying with Fair Labor requirements, which cover minimum wage, overtime pay and youth employment, the Family and Medical Leave Act or the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, call 305-598-7471 in Miami-Dade and Monroe and 954-232-2489 in Broward.

• The Florida Public Service Commission, www.floridapsc.com, regulates the state's utilities -- electricity, natural gas, telecommunications and water and wastewater. If you want to file a complaint, call, toll-free, 800-342-3552, or visit the web site.

• Telecommunications complaints may also be filed with the Federal Communications Commission via its website, www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumers.html, or by calling, toll-free, 888-CALL-FCC (888-225-5322).

The agency oversees unsolicited faxes, billing disputes, cramming, wireless questions, telephone company advertising practices and paging services.

• If you want to know whether the eggs that have been in the refrigerator for three weeks are safe to eat or determine whether a turkey is properly cooked, call the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Meat and Poultry Hotline, toll-free, at 888-674-6854.

And before forwarding that e-mail that details some terrible event that befell some poor innocent soul, check on www.snopes.com to determine whether it's yet another hoax or an urban myth.

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