DATE: Saturday, September 20, 1997          TAG: 9709200313

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   90 lines

PARENTS AND 5 CHILDREN NEED JOB AND HOME

At dusk on Tuesday, Christine Shaver stood at Virginia Route 10 and the Route 58 bypass, holding a cardboard sign:

Homeless with five kids. Please help if you can.

If motorists stopped, she showed them photos of the children. Her voice cracked as she explained her family's plight.

That night, Chris, 33, and her husband, Richard, 40, pawned a chain saw to get enough money for a night at a local motel.

Late Wednesday, after working a construction job all day, the Shavers called the Suffolk Shelter for the Homeless. They were turned away because they were non-residents.

The Shavers' situation isn't uncommon for traveling construction workers, said Curt Vinson, president of Ameri/Serv Inc., a job-referral service in Alma, Ark.

``I could give you the names of 100 men, and you could talk to them all today, and they'd tell you the same story,'' he said. ``It's not unusual for construction jobs not to last long.

``It's really hard when a man tries to take his family with him. That's just an added burden.''

Richard Shaver is ``a good worker,'' Vinson said.

Carol-Lynn Snowden, program manager with the Suffolk Department of Social Services said that it is sometimes difficult for non-residents to get services elsewhere. Each locality is obligated to its own citizens first. And, if a claim for benefits is open in another part of the state, that claim must be settled before another can be opened elsewhere.

The welfare of stranded travelers may be left up to area churches or the good will of citizens willing to help them, she said. ``There are a lot of homeless people out here who want to be that way,'' Richard said, at the motel where they ended up late Wednesday. ``But nobody drags kids around to be homeless. We're willing to work. We just need some help.''

For a few years, Richard worked in California, where construction jobs were plentiful. When work ran out, they moved to Colorado and managed to save money.

Their dream was to eventually move back to Virginia, where Richard's mother lived in tiny Draper, in Pulaski County.

Two years ago, their savings went toward a down payment on a house there. Their eldest daughter, 6, started school. When there was no work near home, Richard, a metal stud framer, traveled to nearby cities to work construction while Chris stayed home with the children.

But work close to home dried up. And then the twins came along.

``We didn't expect it,'' Chris said. ``And we sure didn't expect twins.''

In Draper, the Shavers got further behind. To help, Chris pulled on jeans and work boots and went to work with her husband. They worked all summer in Winston-Salem, N.C., and went home when it was time for their eldest to start school.

The hard work wasn't enough to save their home. It's gone. They haven't worked since August.

So when Richard got a call from a construction job service to work in Hampton Roads, the Shavers left their eldest behind with Richard's mother, borrowed $100 and headed east in their 1980 Sunbird.

The road ended in Suffolk.

``We thought the job was in Chesapeake,'' Richard explained. ``I was stationed at Fort Eustis when I was in the Army, so I knew the area. We thought this was a good place to stay.''

Banking on small-town hospitality, the Shavers bought a local newspaper and called a woman offering child care. She agreed to keep the four youngest - Matthew, 4; Sarah, 2; and the twins, Max and Chrissy, 1 - and she was willing to wait for her money.

But the Chesapeake job had been filled; they went to work in Newport News. The job lasted two days.

He may be able to get another job if he could get to Dallas or Charlotte.

``We knew it was going to be hard heading this way, but we were desperate,'' said Chris.

At Joyner's Motel on Route 58, the manager was understanding. He took their last $26 and told them they could pay the other $9 when they got paid.

On Thursday, the Suffolk Department of Social Services told Chris that an open claim for food stamps in Draper meant that she was ineligible for help.

``I didn't keep an appointment there because I thought we were coming to work here,'' Chris said. ``I thought we'd be all right.''

The Shavers found sympathy and some help in Suffolk - the motorists who gave them food and money, the manager at Joyner's, the kindly baby sitter, the churches.

But there still was no answer for their future. They are determined to keep the family together.

Hard times and government red tape may prevent it.

``I'll work; I'll do anything,'' Richard said. ``We just need a little help. We need a place to stay.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by John H. Sheally II/The Virginian-Pilot

The Shaver family... KEYWORDS: HOMELESS

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