BY THEA JARVIS

Serving up a traditional holiday feast could be a tough proposition this year. Thoughts of mashed turnips and sweet potato pie have been juxtaposed with images of hungry Rwandan refugees making a treacherous journey back to their homeland or hiding out in the forests of Zaire. Visions of my well-fed family seated contentedly around the dining room table have shared head space with orphaned Hutu children walking days for a couple of high protein biscuits.

Holiday merry-making seems a shallow distraction when globally survival hangs in the balance like a reindeer on a tightrope.

I'm powerless over the political wrangling and tribal rivalries that fuel the world's suffering, yet I'm connected to the slender women, helpless babies, hollow-eyed children and desolate fathers who visit my home daily through the media's focused eye. With shoes on my feet, a warm coat on my back and a roof over my head, I've been feeling like the only kid with a candy bar in a schoolyard full of hungry playmates.

So when my little church in east Atlanta invited parishioners to pick up small brown paper turkeys after Mass and donate food for holiday dinners, relief surged through me like gravy on grits. I scooped up a little paper gobbler from the basket in back of church and read: "Three tins of beans."

"I'll take two," I whispered to my husband, and grabbed another turkey. This one asked for cans of corn. Can do.

With the thin paper birds snuggled in my pocket, I felt positive. I couldn't cook turkey dinner for those hungry babies on the news, but I could shop for some local folks who needed a helping hand. It was a start.

Traditional holidays are moments of grace when opportunities to help others are as plentiful as blackbirds in winter. To stretch the holiday spirit, I can consider needs that don't disappear after the decorations are stored in the attic and the stuffing has made its last starring role as a leftover.

Some possibilities:

• -St. Vincent de Paul's central office, (404) 874-7014, needs blankets and sleeping bags for the homeless, as well as shoes, coats, clothing and toiletries for needy SVDP clients.
• - The Latin American Association, (404) 638-1823, is providing full holiday dinners and gifts to their neediest families. Some 500 new, unwrapped toys are needed before the Dec. 19 delivery date. The organization is also seeking groups to sponsor monthly food drives.
• - Migration and Refugee Services of Catholic Social Services, (404) 885-7400, needs warm winter clothing, especially coats, sweaters, socks, gloves, scarves and knit hats, to share with newly arrived families. Volunteers are also needed to teach English and offer friendship to resettling refugees.
• - Night shelters at Atlanta's Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Central Presbyterian Church need volunteers to cook and spend the night though March 31. Contact Katie Bashor at (404) 373-8486.
• - Volunteers are needed for visitation and monthly dinners at The Edgewood, an Atlanta residence for people living with AIDS. Contact Sara Jane Higgins at (404) 577-1106.
• - St. Francis Table, serving Saturday meals to the homeless from 8 a.m. until noon at the Shrine, needs helpers to prepare and serve sandwiches. Contact Walter Moore at (404) 521-1866.

Father Henri Nouwen, who spent his last years serving the mentally handicapped at L'Arche Daybreak community in Toronto, said we shouldn't give up good works because our efforts seem small and meaningless.

"Do not let yourself be distracted by the great noises of war, the dramatic descriptions of misery, and the sensational expressions of human cruelty," Nouwen cautioned in his little book, "The Path to Peace."

Headlines and news reports may make us numb, may create feelings of shame, guilt and powerlessness, he granted, but such weakness is ultimately a source of strength.

In "those places of our hearts where we feel most broken," said Nouwen, we will find the greatest peace and inspiration for helping others. It is there we acknowledge that we can't do it all, but that God can.

The crisis in central Africa won't disappear when the holidays are over. The needs of people in North Georgia won't vanish after Underground Atlanta's giant peach hits the ground New Year's Eve. And, last time I checked, saving my soul won't be wrapped up in the one-week spread between Christmas and Jan. 1.

Canned beans and corn are modest beginnings for seasonal giving, but they're my reminders that the holiday spirit ought to last the whole year through.