Two women assist homeless hero
Offer Keith Finsterwald job, home after meeting hero

Susan Lazaruk, The Province
Published: Friday, January 13, 2006

A homeless hero living in a garbage-strewn lean-to on the banks of the Fraser River in Vancouver may soon be moving to a horse farm in the suburbs.

Two women more accustomed to rescuing abandoned horses and cats than people are offering Keith Finsterwald, who helped police rescue a woman from the river last week, a chance to have his own home and help them with their animal shelters.

"We're hoping all he needs is a helping hand, and we're willing to give it to him," said Petra Smith, who lives on a four-hectare leased property in Surrey where she cares for abandoned horses.

Smith and friend Penny March, who runs Forgotten Felines, a no-kill cat shelter in Surrey that she hopes to move to Smith's property, were touched by Finsterwald's story when he was unwillingly thrust into the media spotlight last week.

March, who brought Finsterwald warm clothing after the rescue, "was taken by him. I got a wild idea to get him a trailer and get him a job" helping out with Smith's horses.

Within hours, a friend in South Surrey had donated a two-bedroom trailer. The catch? It's going to cost $3,000 to move and $2,000 to build a foundation for, an amount the women hope will be donated.

Finsterwald will get free room and board and a modest wage in exchange for helping out -- news he welcomed yesterday as he crawled out of his shanty.

"Horses are one of my passions," said Finsterwald, who says he grew up on a hobby farm in the Okanagan before working for years as a trapeze artist in the U.S. "I still don't believe it."

The unemployed 32-year-old, whose career ended with a car accident two years ago, now survives by collecting scrap metal.

The loner became an unlikely hero Jan. 3 when a car driven by Ryan Paszkowski, 31, flew over a two-metre berm at the end of Fraser Street -- and over Finsterwald's home -- into the Fraser.

Paszkowski drowned and his girlfriend was rescued by Vancouver police Const. Gerry Proctor, who dove in while Finsterwald, who couldn't swim, kept watch waist-deep in the cold water.

Police will be commending Proctor and Finsterwald in an awards ceremony at the end of the month.

Finsterwald was arrested Wednesday for a failure to appear for a court appearance Dec. 7 on a charge of theft under $5,000. He was charged Nov. 26 after a trucking firm on Main Street reported metal equipment stolen from its yard.

Finsterwald, who said he found the item in the ditch and missed his court appearance because of a mix-up in dates, is due back in court on Jan. 17.