Some clients of Women’s Transitional Care Services are close to having less than a lump of coal this Christmas: They’ve got nothing.

“It’s so difficult, holiday seasons, for domestic violence survivors especially,” said Maggie Beedles, children’s program director for the agency. “It is so much fun for these families to have a celebratory holiday season.”

That’s why Beedles is looking for volunteers to “adopt” seven families for the holidays.

“We just haven’t had the community response this year,” Beedles said.

Many of Lawrence’s nonprofit agencies band together to form the Holiday Bureau — a cooperative agency that takes applications and dispenses gifts and assistance to the needy during the holidays while making sure the help isn’t duplicated.

Women’s Transitional Care Services, which provides shelter to victims of domestic abuse, hasn’t joined the bureau, in an effort to protect its clients’ identities.

“Because of the confidentiality involved in domestic violence, some people have to be adopted through us instead of other agencies,” Beedles said.

The agency has tried to find donors to provide gifts and help for 28 families, Beedles said. So far, seven families haven’t been helped.

Beedles said those seven included single women, or families with teenagers but no young children.

Other Lawrence agencies that are part of the Holiday Bureau on Monday reported they were meeting their goals for donations. Applications for Holiday Bureau assistance were due last week; gift distribution started this week.

Rich Forney, administrator of the Salvation Army in Lawrence, began distributing gifts and food Monday to about 400 families who will receive assistance from his agency this year.

“This is a big operation. We’re giving out all kinds of stuff today,” Forney said at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, where the distribution was taking place.

He said donations were “steady.”

“It has been wonderful,” said Forney’s wife, Judy. “Lawrence has been a very caring community.”

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Andy Brown, human service programs director for the Ballard Community Center, agreed. His agency is helping 150 families this year.

Ballard is doing “really, really well, in terms of our adopt-a-family program,” Brown said. “We could use some help for our rental assistance and medication assistance programs.”

Douglas County Senior Services, which is helping 80 older Lawrence residents during the holiday season, reported good progress as well.

“It’s gone really well for us,” said Janet Ikenberry, community services manager for the agency.

Beedles hopes some of the city’s charity now comes to her agency.

“It is so heartbreaking to look at these notebooks of people who’ve made wish lists,” Beedles said. “We never guarantee everybody is going to be adopted, but it’s disappointing.”