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While there are many things that homeless children are forced to do without, Andrea Phillips of Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro said she can't imagine not having a father.

Yet many of the youngsters that Andrea, 10, met last month at the San Leandro Women and Children's Shelter have no one to call "Dad."

"It would be hard if your mother was busy and you needed help with your homework. It would be pretty bad" not to have a dad, she said.

The Castro Valley fifth-grader visited the shelter with 17 other Beth Sholom fourth- and fifth-graders as part of their Sunday school mitzvah project.

The youths had been studying the importance of tzedakah and mitzvot for most of the year, said Belinda Simon Harris, their Sunday school teacher.

They put those concepts into action at the shelter. The children presented two preschool-aged girls there with homemade cookies, pop-up toys and other gifts that they had wrapped in decorative Christmas paper.

The youngsters squealed and ran excitedly up and down the halls, Andrea recalled.

One girl among several teens living at the shelter hid from the visitors.

"She was crying and embarrassed that she was getting gifts from people she didn't know," speculated Beth Sholom's Rachel Feldman, 9.

Rachel said she couldn't imagine what it would be like to get gifts from strangers, but she felt good about bringing some cheer to the cramped group home. There were about 13 women and their children who shared a living room, kitchen and some bunk beds in another room.

"They were having a good life there," she said. But "it looked kind of crowded. I'd rather live where I have my own house and privacy — not all squished up."

Beth Sholom's Harris also brought to the shelter gift boxes containing new pajamas, coats and professional clothing that had been donated by the San Francisco Clothing Bank. Some of the items were factory seconds with slight flaws while the rest comprised a surplus of stylish fashions that can be found currently in department stores.

The clothing bank collects the apparel from manufacturers for distribution to 75 homeless advocates. Beth Sholom is its first member synagogue, Harris said.

Shelter director Elaine de Coligny said the synagogue visit also was the first time that the residents had received new clothing.

"What a special gift," de Coligny said. "This will help our [residents] in their efforts to mainstream back into society."

Beth Sholom congregants have pledged to bring more clothing and other donations in months to come. And the students plan to do a future art project with the shelter kids.