Wife at St. Louis homeless shelter while husband looks for work in Cape

For much of the almost three years Toni Polford-Eskew and her husband, Christopher Eskew, have been married, they have been separated. Until about three weeks ago, it was because Christopher Eskew violated his probation in September 2007 and was sent to prison.

Now he's out on parole and they are separated again. Polford-Eskew, a native of East St. Louis, Ill., is staying at the New Life Evangelistic Center shelter in downtown St. Louis while she looks for work. Her husband, a Cape Girardeau native, has been sleeping in his car or on a friend's couch in Cape Girardeau while he does the same.

The couple was briefly reunited when Christopher was released from the Farmington Correctional Center and his mother drove Toni to meet him. They spent a night in a Cape Girardeau hotel, courtesy of Christopher's mother. But with jobs hard to find in the recession, Toni was able to get to the interview stage at only one employer, who only had one job, she said.

The expense of even a cheap hotel was too much, she said during an interview at the aging shelter operated by the Rev. Larry Rice. So after talking it out, Toni reluctantly went to St. Louis to seek a job and perhaps an apartment while Christopher remained in Cape Girardeau. If she finds work, she said he will ask his parole officer if his supervision can be transferred.

"My dad and my husband and my mother-in-law are the only ones who know I am in a shelter because I don't want them to know about my troubles," Toni said. "It is really sad because I wasn't expecting us to be in a shelter."

As a felon, Christopher said, he's having trouble finding work. His mother is struggling as well, and they have trouble getting along at times.

"I want one down here, but it is hard to get a job down here," he said. "I don't know of any programs down here that will help you get a job if you are a felon."

If either finds a job, that will decide where they live. But both said they prefer Cape Girardeau to St. Louis, Christopher because he sees Cape Girardeau as a vibrant place where he could make good once he finds a job. Toni said it is a more comfortable, relaxing town with kind people. "I love St. Louis, don't get me wrong, but it is a big city and I am not a big-city girl."

Cape Girardeau needs a homeless shelter that allows families to stay together, Christopher said.

"They do need somebody down there to help somebody out," he said, recalling that he stayed at Rice's St. Louis shelter in 2005, before he met Toni. "That is why I left Cape Girardeau in the first place. There ain't nobody to help you out here. Once you get old enough to fend for yourself, you got to go hard and get what you can get."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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