Tony and Andrea are in love and plan to marry. Homeless, the two moved to Quincy to live with family, but were kicked out shortly after.
Taken in by friends, the couple eventually found local jobs. About a year later in the fall of 2017, they relocated to Arkansas, where Tony found work at a Tyson’s Chicken plant that pays $14 an hour.
“When me and Andrea got together, I thought it was gonna turn out to be a good thing, and it has been,” Tony said. “Everything's looking good for me and Andrea. She tries her best to go out here and get what she can get. I go out here and get what I can get. We're doing really good. We're just trying to stay here in Quincy so we can just build a family together.”
April 2017: Tony, 44, walks 10 blocks from his job at Pizza Hut to his home. After getting rent money from the General Assistance Program, he found a job at Pizza Hut where he made Employee of the Month.
Tony had open heart surgery when he was 2. His dad died when Tony was 18, and his mother died when he was 30.
“It's hard when you ain't got no family out there, like your mom and dad and shit. It's kind of hard to make it,” he said. “But you gotta try and struggle with your life to make it as far as you can.”
He spent time in the penitentiary when he was 36, and when he left, he was homeless. Tony and his girlfriend Andrea often take in the homeless off the street, sharing what little they have to offer.
“Being homeless on the streets, it's rough,” he said. “If I got a roof over my head, and a person's homeless, I give them a shot to let them come stay with me. I try to help as many homeless people as I can.”
April 2017: Exhausted from working extra hours and not sleeping well the night before, Tony is comforted by his girlfriend Andrea. Tony is admitted to Blessing Hospital later that day for dehydration and low blood pressure. Tony has been working as many hours as he can get, often filling in for others, so he can save enough money so he and Andrea can move to a better apartment.
April 2017: Tony stirs from his sleep in their small apartment, as he wakes up to get ready for work. “I’m glad to be working for money again,” Tony said. “It’s better than working for General Assistance, ‘cause now I have change in my pocket.”
April 2017: Returning home from work, Tony is greeted with a bowl of soup for dinner. He talks about the help he’s received by organizations in Quincy.
“I was working with General Assistance,” he said. “They helped me pay part of my rent. I was going around picking up the community. I like to help the community out, because there's a lot of trash on the road where kids don't need to be picking up needles and all that drug paraphernalia and all that stuff. They don't need to be picking that up and hurting themselves."
“Here in Quincy, I think the soup kitchen, it's gonna be booming real good, because they help people with food. There's another couple organizations around here, they help you with bills, and they help you with getting jobs. I think Quincy is a pretty good town because they try to help people -- good church-going people. And I'm glad I did move here so I can get some help."
“It's been rough, but I'm back on top. I got me a little job. I'm working now. I'm doing good. I got me a little crib. It's gonna turn out perfect. I know it is, 'cause God's always with me.”
August 2017: Walking home from the Horizons Food Pantry, Tony pulls a cart of food up the stairs to his apartment. Tony says it took him about six months to get all of his paperwork in order to find a job. He needed a new driver’s license, Social Security card and birth certificate.
“I got here in Quincy, September of last year,” he said. “It took me ‘til almost March to get my ID, all my stuff that I need to get a job. When we first moved up here, Andrea got a job, and we stayed with my cousin. We got kicked out on December 4 -- me and Andrea, on her birthday, in dead winter. I met some other friends, and they let us move in with until we got this place where we live at now. Now that I got this job, I think I can move on to better things and better places and help a lot of people out. Everything's looking good for me and Andrea.”