Outpouring of Aid Greets Janitor’s Tale : Minimum wage: Subject of article on difficulties of living on $4.25 an hour gets a new job and other assistance.

Samuel Pineda started a new job Thursday, one that pays him $7 an hour.

Since Sunday, when The Times published a profile of Pineda to demonstrate the difficulty of surviving on the minimum wage, nearly 400 Southern Californians have swamped Pineda and his family with offers of assistance. Many said they were deeply moved by the deprivation and painful choices that Pineda, 27, had to make on a janitor’s job that paid him $4.25 an hour--the lowest wage permitted by California and federal law.

A firefighter wanted to give the family a tour of the station. A lawyer wanted to pay for an excursion to Disneyland. One homemaker offered maternity clothing. An elderly man, supporting himself on the same wages that Pineda stretched to cover his family of four, dispatched $50, saying the Pinedas could use the money more. A 5-year-old girl broke her piggy bank so she could send some applesauce, a chocolate bar and crayons.

Samuel Pineda and his pregnant girlfriend, Maria Hernandez, who live in South-Central Los Angeles with Pineda’s two children, could not have been more surprised.

“I am a step ahead now,” grinned Pineda, a normally undemonstrative man whose abrupt turn of fortune had clearly overwhelmed him. “It makes me feel great that a lot of people out there want to help. The truth is, we never could have expected anything like this to happen to us.”

One of the best pieces of good news was a 60% wage increase at his new job at an Orange County bottled water processing company. A similar job was extended to Pineda’s cousin, who recently lost his position at a shoulder pad factory. The two men will get medical benefits after the first three months on the job. They and their families share a three-bedroom home with Pineda’s brother and his family.

“In my life, I’ve been through periods when I didn’t have enough money to pay rent,” said Dennis Salmans, chief executive officer of Viking Water Systems in Tustin. “I just took it to heart; if I were in his position what would I want? A job that pays more.”

So Salmans contacted Pineda on Wednesday. And on Thursday morning, Pineda and his cousin started their new positions. Pineda is working with welders, learning the trade, which if he is successful could mean a wage of about $10 per hour.

“We didn’t expect any of this,” said Hernandez, 22, barely able to contain her smile.

Pineda’s 3-year-old daughter, Lourdes, could not quite understand whether the toys were there to stay in her home or just visiting. When presented with a carton full of books, dolls and stuffed animals, she demurely selected a Cabbage Patch doll like someone politely choosing one chocolate from a box.

For many of the Southlanders who offered help, the spark was Lourdes and her 7-year-old brother, Herman. Many said in interviews they were heartbroken by the fact that the family lived on so little ($155.29 a week) that the children were taken to McDonald’s only to use the restaurant’s playground--not to eat--and by scenes in which Lourdes kept trying unsuccessfully to sneak small treats into her father’s grocery cart.

Comedienne Claire Berger of Burbank read the story to her two children: Jenna, 8, and Sam, 4. Both kids immediately decided they wanted to put together a care package for Lourdes and Herman, whose ages were so close to their own. They gathered up their favorite toys, but young Sam was adamant with his demand: “Don’t forget the Cocoa Puffs “ (a favorite cereal of Lourdes).

Sheldon Lewis, of Lansing, Mich., said he felt compelled to offer help though he himself as a legislative assistant fresh out of college earned only a modest salary.

“Here is a guy who makes $4.25 an hour, he’s trying to raise two kids and has one on the way. He’s not turning to crime; he’s not giving up,” Lewis said of Pineda. “He’s making every effort to make it; that’s the type of effort that needs to be rewarded.”

To her surprise, Barbara Collins of West Hollywood found that Pineda’s struggle to survive on minimum wage reduced her to tears.

“We are very, very tight but whatever I could do, I’d like to do,” said Collins, 52, who runs an employment agency.

Ed Kerns of Agoura, an attorney, said he realized how fortunate he and his family were, and has spent this week gathering toys for the Pinedas.

“You think, ‘God, do I actually complain about my life sometimes?’ ” Kerns said. “Maybe I shouldn’t complain.”