EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : Her Home Is Their Home : Canoga Park Nurse Takes in 8-Member Family Displaced by the Earthquake

Ann Koshy, a registered nurse who runs her own home care nursing firm, lives in a beautiful 2,800-square-foot home in Canoga Park with her two teen-age sons and a dog. But her boys left for boarding school in San Diego on Thursday, leaving her alone with the dog in a big empty house.

So Friday night, after cleaning up earthquake debris in her Woodland Hills office, she decided to stop by Winnetka Recreation Center to see if she could find a family that needed help.

It took her less than 10 minutes.

Koshy and her business partner, Dan Deen, saw a doctor talking to a family sitting in a car. The family had a 2-week-old baby boy and had been sleeping in their car at the park since Monday.

“I said to myself, God, I better take that baby home,” Koshy said. “I asked them if they would like to come home with me, and they said yes.”

Koshy, a native of India who has been in the United States for 20 years, downplayed her generosity.

“If I didn’t do this, then who would?” she said. “This is humanitarian. It could have easily been me that was left homeless.”

But the Sandoval family, Rodolfo and Griselda and their six children, are appreciative of Koshy’s kindness.

“I am very grateful to her,” said Sandoval, his family surrounding him. “I never expected anyone to offer their home to us. We had planned on sleeping in the park again tonight.”

Instead, the children, ages 13 to the newborn, were able to take their first baths since Sunday and did not have to stand in line to get dinner. With their wet hair slicked back, the children gobbled pizza that Koshy had bought for dinner.

While Koshy fed a bottle of formula to the baby, Rodolfo Jr., 4, chased Koshy’s dog, Sugar, around the room, forgetting for the moment his fear of the earthquake.

“He’s afraid of returning to the apartment,” the boy’s mother said, adding that the boy was nicked on the nose by a falling headboard during the earthquake. “When we go back to the apartment to get clothes he starts crying.”

After eating their fill, the children stretched out on a comforter and blankets that Koshy laid out for them on the floor of the den and watched a Spanish-language soap opera on Koshy’s big-screen TV.

“I like it here,” said Joana, 13, the oldest child. “It’s more warmer.”

Rodolfo Sandoval said he is unsure if his apartment on Bryant Street in Northridge is habitable. He said there are cracks all around the building and he does not believe it has been inspected yet.

Koshy said the Sandovals may stay in her home until they find other shelter. But while Sandoval searches for housing, Griselda is just happy that her family is safe.

“We may be suffering,” she said, looking over her brood of children, “but the family is together.”