SHOWING HE CARES EXECUTIVE VOLUNTEERS TO ASSIST AREA'S AILING, HOMELESS.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

The Petrov family fled Bulgaria to the United States almost a decade ago to seek a life free from communism.

Instead, the Petrovs wound up at a North Hollywood homeless shelter, facing deportation.

Now, the family of four lives in a Glendale apartment with no fear of being forced to return to Bulgaria. The mother, Dimitrina Petrova, sells souvenirs at Universal Studios, while the father, Nikolay Petrov, 50, works at an auto body shop.

And they have one man to thank: Scott Nostaja.

As a vice president of human resources at Universal Studios Hollywood, Nostaja met the Petrov family at the shelter, found jobs for the parents and helped them find legal counsel to fight deportation.

``We'll always remember him,'' said the Petrovs' daughter, Viktoria, 17, who was only 8 at the time. ``That's something you remember forever. He's a hero.''

Nostaja, 42, who lives in Chatsworth with his wife and son, deflects the praise. ``Nonsense,'' he said.

He and the Petrov family crossed paths in 1995 at the L.A. Family Housing Corp. shelter where volunteers spent the day with the homeless.

``He rescued us, a family of four, when we were homeless, hopeless, fallen badly down - to the end,'' Dimitrina Petrova, 49, wrote in her letter describing Nostaja as someone who is ``Making a Difference.''

``He is the most caring individual I ever knew,'' she wrote. ``I saw him volunteering to many charities, helping and caring and always smiling.''

A man whose personal mantra is ``Choose people over things,'' Nostaja developed a community-relations program to help the homeless and children while he was working at Universal Studios.

Now as vice president of human resources and administration at PeopleSupport Inc. in Westwood, he continues to volunteer - this time serving food to AIDS patients through Project Angel Food in Hollywood.

``Volunteering is infectious,'' he said. ``I want to give to the community by doing something other than simply writing a check.

``If I'm not giving back to the community, I feel very empty inside.''

Jeff Farber, the chief operating officer of L.A. Family Housing Corp., recalls when Nostaja and Universal came to help the homeless in 1995.

``In my mind, when you have people who work in the community, a lot of times they come to work and leave,'' Farber said. ``Scott's one of these guys who rolls his sleeves up and says, as long as I'm working here as part of the community, I need to give back to the community.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: (color) Scott Nostaja has helped the Petrov family find jobs and fight deportation.