Culture Shock Dance Center will host a holiday open house and toy drive on Saturday, Dec. 23, to benefit Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center.

All dance classes will be free that day to students who bring in an unwrapped toy. The event, which runs form 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will also include discounts on class packages, a sidewalk boutique and a special performance from Sabrina Fox’s belly dance company, Atash Maya.

Ten classes will be offered that day, including all levels of hip-hop, a break-dance class, youth classes in jazz and hip-hop and a special added “Cardio Top Rocking” (break-dance footwork) class. The sidewalk boutique will feature a bake sale, handmade jewelry and dancewear. Dance class packages will be discounted 15 percent.

All toys collected will be donated to Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center. Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego exists “to restore, sustain and enhance the health and developmental potential of children through excellence in care, education, research and advocacy.”

More than 13,000 boys and girls were admitted to Rady Children’s as inpatients last year, and there were 192,000 visits to outpatient and specialty clinics. During the workweek, nearly 80 surgeries are performed, ranging from relatively simple outpatient procedures to at least one complex heart surgery each day. Research involving hundreds of children in some 70 clinical trials stimulates medical progress nationally and internationally. And each workday, more than 700 children will see a specialist for a consult, expert opinion and/or diagnosis.

Culture Shock Dance Center is located at 2110 Hancock St., Suite 200.

For more information about the open house and toy drive or to obtain a class schedule, visit www.cultureshockdancecenter.com. For more information about Rady Children’s Hospital, visit www.chsd.org.

The San Diego LGBT Community Leadership Council will sponsor its second annual community volunteer fair on Wednesday, Jan. 24, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at The Center, located 3909 Centre St.

The fair is designed to highlight volunteer opportunities within San Diego’s GLBT community.

Nonprofit organizations and agencies are encouraged to register now to participate in this communitywide event. Applications are available on The Center’s Web site, www.thecentersd.org, on the calendar page under the Community Volunteer Fair listing. Deadline for registration is Jan. 1.

“The San Diego LGBT Community Leadership Council’s Community Volunteer Fair is a wonderful way for local organizations to showcase their work and recruit volunteers for the coming year,” said Lea Burgess-Carland, volunteer coordinator for The Center. “It is an easy way for those considering volunteering to gather information about a diverse range of organizations all at one event.”

For more information, contact Lea Burgess-Carland at (619) 692-2077 ext. 111 or lburgess-carland@thecentersd.org.

San Diego LGBT Pride recently selected a theme for its 2007 celebration: “United for Equality.”

It’s the fifth time since 1984 that San Diego Pride has adopted a slogan from InterPride, which presents a different theme to the global Pride community each year.

“We feel that the 2007 worldwide InterPride theme aptly demonstrates the strength of our community’s ability to come together in a call for unity. And by embracing the theme we offer support to those cities and countries around the world that are met with strong opposition and violence when producing their Pride events,” said Ron deHarte, executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride.

deHarte and San Diego Pride’s co-chairs attended InterPride’s annual conference when the international theme was presented recently in Portland, Maine. Pride representatives from 24 U.S. states and 10 countries selected the theme to promote Pride on an international level. San Diego Pride is a founding member of InterPride.

San Diego Pride also announced new dates for its summer celebration, held traditionally on the last weekend of July. The parade and two-day festival this year will take place instead on July 20-22, the second to last weekend of that month.

“We made the switch because ComicCon is taking place at the end of July. The convention uses a significant number of hotel rooms and special-event resources around town, and we didn’t want to conflict on a weekend when resources in San Diego are spread thin,” deHarte added.

Pride’s 2006 celebration attracted nearly 200,000 people to its events.

San Diego Pride has given more than $1 million to a wide variety of GLBT organizations. Its mission is to foster pride and respect for GLBT communities in San Diego.

For more information about events and volunteer opportunities for Pride’s upcoming 33rd annual celebration or to sign up for the Pride e-newsletter, call (619) 297-7683 or log on to www.sdpride.org.

Mama’s Kitchen, a nonprofit meal delivery service dedicated to providing meals 365 days a year to San Diegans affected by AIDS and other critical illnesses, needs volunteers to deliver meals to clients who live in North County coastal and North County inland.

“Volunteering at Mama’s Kitchen is a great opportunity to give back to the community, and we need help all year long,” said Bill Patten, manager of volunteer services. “We could sure use some extra wheels to deliver meals to our clients, especially in North County.”

While Mama’s Kitchen’s headquarters is located in downtown San Diego, satellite pick-up locations are established to serve clients in the North County coastal and North County inland areas. All route drivers are given specific driving instructions from house to house. Each route typically has 12 clients, and all deliveries need to be made between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years of age and have car insurance. All volunteers should attend an orientation to learn more about the organization and volunteer responsibilities.

The next volunteer orientations are Wednesday, Jan. 3, at 6:00 p.m. and Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 6:00 p.m. The volunteer orientations take place at Mama’s Kitchen, located at 1875 Second Ave. in San Diego.

Companies are encouraged to “adopt-a-route,” where employees give one day a week to deliver meals. Driving duties can rotate among employees.

For information about North County volunteer opportunities, call Patten at (619) 233-6262 ext. 109 or e-mail him at bill@mamaskitchen.org.

The San Diego Women’s Chorus welcomes new singing members for the first rehearsal of the spring season on Sunday, Jan. 7, at 4:00 p.m. at the University Christian Church, located 3900 Cleveland Ave.

The season leads up to SDWC’s 20th anniversary concert, set to take place on Saturday, June 2.

The San Diego Women’s Chorus is a non-audition, community-based chorus that is open to women of all sexual orientations, ages, ethnicities and skill levels. The ability to read music is a plus but not a requirement. The chorus is looking for women who have a love of music, are able to match pitch with a piano and have a commitment to participate in the chorus.

For more information about how to become involved with the San Diego Women’s Chorus, call (619) 291-3366, visit their Web site at www.sdwc.org or e-mail them at info@sdwc.org.

The documentary of Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Tony Kushner is set to be screened on Feb. 13 as part of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival.

Wrestling with Angels tells the story of Kushner, an openly gay Jewish man, during three years of his life – from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to the 2004 presidential election – as a three-act play.

The screening will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown at the AMC La Jolla, located at 8657 Villa La Jolla Dr. Tickets cost $12.50 and are available beginning Tuesday, Jan. 2, by calling the Jewish Community Center Box Office at (858) 362-1348 or visiting their Web site at www.lfjcc.org.