UNIVERSAL CITY : Once Homeless, Now They Aid Others in Need

There is a place like home.

Just ask Dimitrina and Nikolay Petrova, two immigrants from Bulgaria who found shelter from their American Dream gone awry.

The Valley Shelter in North Hollywood, to be exact, which took the couple and their two young daughters in after they couldn’t pay their rent in the fall of 1993.

“I was so depressed,” said Dimitrina. Her daughters’ “lives were out of my control. I couldn’t care for them.”

But thanks to the shelter, the couple found work--and hope. Several months later, they left the shelter to start over, and now they’re helping those who remain behind.

On Sunday, the Petrovas will be handing out gifts to residents at the shelter’s second annual “Christmas in the Spring” benefit, sponsored by Universal Studios. Families will receive an assortment of toys, clothing, books, tapes and essential domestic items.

Volunteers, who began the collection drive in February, will give out personalized gift baskets to each family. In all, the shelter houses 250 to 300 occupants each evening.

“Being homeless is demoralizing. You lose your self-esteem and your self-confidence,” said Allison Lee, the shelter’s director of development. By personalizing the donations, Lee said, it demonstrates to recipients that “there are those out there who care about them as a family, not a statistic. It builds that family back up.”

Also, by being scheduled during the spring, the event shows that homeless families require help throughout the year, not just during the Christmas season, volunteers said.

“I know what those people are feeling now,” said Dimitrina, who works at Universal Studios with her husband and elder daughter. “I can send a message to them: Don’t give up. You can get help.”