Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Out of money and time at the Van Meter State Park camp grounds, Ginger Sweeney kisses the forehead of her oldest son Rusty, 13, riding with her other son Larry, 11, and daughter Lisa, 10, as the family departed their camp site for the warmth of Gene's Motel in Marshall as temperatures dropped into the 40 degree range. A member organization of the Saline County Interagency Council informed the family that funds had been obtained to house them in the hotel for one week. The family immediately left before dark for the warmth of the hotel in Marshall but would return three times that night to pack up belongings after the children were tucked away.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO The Sweeney family heads toward Marshall with chilly fall overnight temperatures predicted, Members of the Saline County Interagency Council, frustrated by the lack of an emergency homeless shelter in the region, come to the aid of the Sweeney family by finding the funds to pay for a week at Gene's Hotel in Marshall.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - The Sweeney family sit down for dinner at their campsite at Van Meter State Park which would turn out to be their last meal at the camp grounds. Later, word would reach the Sweeney family that a week at Gene's Hotel had been paid for by an agency with the Saline County Interagency Council who were seeking to help the family get back on their feet.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Lisa, 10, and Rusty, 13, Sweeney walk family pet pugs Sgt. Wrinkles and Major Love, at their campsite at the Van Meter State Park.
Adrift in Americas
MARHSALL, MO - "You just can't take away everything from the kids", explains Ginger Sweeney as she and husband Nick tear down tents and load up toys and other belongings after learning of generous gift of a week's stay at Gene's Hotel in Marshall.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Lisa, 10, Rusty, 13, middle, and Larry, 11, gather up their clean clothes from their mother Ginger Sweeney inside on of the family tents at Van Meter State Park.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - With only a few hours before having to be out of their campsite at the Van Meter State Park and worried about missing an appointment with one of their children's teachers in less than two hours, Nick and Ginger worry about getting a broken lighting harness fixed on a rented UHaul trailer in order to get the rest of their belongings out of the campsite and to their hotel in Marshall.
ADRIFT IN AMERICA
MARSHALL, MO - Nick Sweeney takes "Stitches", a family pet, to the Marshall Animal Shelter. The feline was not getting along with the other pets in close quarters and the cost of keeping all the animals was becoming an issue. "People may wonder why we keep all our pets but we already had stocked up on food for the animals. But if we couldn't feed the kids, all the pets would have to go." The family has three dogs, two cats, two bald boa snakes and two ferrets.
ADRIFT IN AMERICA
MARSHALL, MO - Nick and Ginger Sweeney canvas the streets of Marshall seeking help in getting jobs and housing from iniside their van. In order to use their cell phone, the couple would travel to a cell tower outside of Marshall in order to get service not requiring roaming charges.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Nick and Ginger Sweeney canvas the streets of Marshall seeking help in getting jobs and housing from iniside their van. In order to use their cell phone, the couple would travel to a cell tower outside of Marshall in order to get service not requiring roaming charges.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Nick and Ginger Sweeney knock on every possible door seeking help and advice and find a helping hand from Jean Harms of the American Red Cross. "We need a homeless shelter and we are going to fix this problem," complains a frustrated Saline County American Red Cross volunteer Jean Harms (right), "but it won't be in time to help you two, unfortunately." Harms brought the Sweeney family situation to the attention of the Saline County Interagency Council and pressed the group to find answers to this type of situation in a county which does not have a homeless shelter.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - As Nick Sweeney searches the classifieds for possible rental houses, his wife Gina patiently sits while seeking help and the use of a phone from Saline County American Red Cross volunteer Jean Harms. Nick and Ginger Sweeney knock on every possible door seeking help and advice and find a helping hand from Jean Harms of the American Red Cross. "We need a homeless shelter and we are going to fix this problem," complains a frustrated Saline County American Red Cross volunteer Jean Harms (right), "but it won't be in time to help you two, unfortunately." Harms brought the Sweeney family situation to the attention of the Saline County Interagency Council and pressed the group to find answers to this type of situation in a county which does not have a homeless shelter.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - "You just can't take away everything from the kids", explains Ginger Sweeney as she and husband Nick, right, tear down tents and load up their van with toys and other belongings at their camp site at Van Meter State Park after learning of generous gift of a week's stay at Gene's Hotel in Marshall.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Out of money and time at the Van Meter State Park camp grounds, the Sweeney's departed their camp site for the warmth of Gene's Motel in Marshall as temperatures dropped into the 40 degree range. A member organization of the Saline County Interagency Council informed the family that funds had been obtained to house them in the hotel for one week. The family immediately left before dark for the warmth of the hotel in Marshall but would return three times that night to pack up belongings after the children were tucked away.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Out of money and time at the Van Meter State Park camp grounds, the Sweeney's departed their camp site for the warmth of Gene's Motel in Marshall as temperatures dropped into the 40 degree range. A member organization of the Saline County Interagency Council informed the family that funds had been obtained to house them in the hotel for one week. The family immediately left before dark for the warmth of the hotel in Marshall but would return three times that night to pack up belongings after the children were tucked away.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Ginger Sweeney makes calls from their cramped room at Gene's Motel trying to track down possible job and housing opportunities.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Nick and Ginger Sweeny scan the local newspapers looking for inexpensive rental homes and job opportunities as they start another day seeking housing and job opportunities in Marshall, Missouri.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - Ginger Sweeney carries belongings into their room at Gene's Motel after finally clearing out their campsite at Van Meter State Park.
ADRIFT IN AMERICA
MARSHALL, MO - Lisa, 10, kisses "Bootsy" the cat while her brother Larry, 13, watches TV in their room at Gene's Motel as her other brother Larry, 11, works to finish his homework with help from their mother Ginger Sweeney prior to leaving for school. The family woke up for the first time in months in the comfort of a room ... not a tent.
Adrift in America
MARSHALL, MO - On their first full day out of their tents now living for a week at Gene's Motel, Ginger Sweeney and her husband Nick Sweeney wash the families clothing at a local laundry. Using five largest capacity washers and dryers, the cost to the family was nearly $20. "If you watch the dryers, people will pull their clothes out with time still left on the machine, and if you put a quarter in before the time runs out you get 12 minutes of time, if you let the time run out and put a quarter in you only get 8 minutes on that quarter," says Ginger Sweeney.
Nick and Ginger Sweeney used the little saving they had in June bury their daughter Lauren Elizabeth, who was still born at six months into the pregnancy.
A month later, Nick, 26, lost his $30,000-a-year job as a landscaper. The couple and their three school-age children-hers from a previous marriage-began a quick descent into homelessness. As he searched for work in three Missouri towns, they spent more than a month pitching tens in campgrounds. The Sweeneys had moved to Cameron, Missouri, after Nick’s discharge from the Army, where he spent eight months in Afghanistan and a year in Iraq. The couple married since 2001, were expecting their first child together. Because hers was a high-risk pregnancy and she felt ill, the Army let Nick go three months early.
“We had a complete nursery done. We weren’t thinking about saving for anything else, “ says Ginger, 33.
She knows now how quickly homelessness can happen to families that live paycheck to paycheck. “We got behind on the van (payments), and the rent money bought our daughter’s casket,” she says. Burial costs totaled $3,000.
The Sweeneys had difficulty finding help. Nick says possible landlords, pastors and community aid groups all asked them: “Are you displaced by Hurricane Katrina?” He says some agencies said they could help only Katrina evacuees. Others said they could find emergency money if the family had a disability. Others hung up on them.
“Honestly, if we lied and said we were from New Orleans, we would have all kinds of help,“ he says, “But we can’t lie. How would that look to our kids?”
Eventually, the Saline County Interagency Council paid one week’s rent for a motel room in Marshall, Missouri, where the family lived for thee weeks. The motel lowered its rate and the family’s First Baptist Church also helped.
The kids – Rusty, 13, Larry, 11, and Lisa, 10, – are back in school and both parents recently found jobs in Marshall. Ginger works as a convenience store cashier and Nick works at a plant making precast concrete.
Ginger says her husband believes everything happens for a reason. She says she was skeptical of the outlook for a while but now agrees with it. “Obviously there was something we needed to learn. We took things for granted,” she says. “As a family, we’re closer now.”