Quiznos' Schadens To Market Film On Homelessness

(Friday, April 11, 2008) - Yesterday Richard and Cheryl Schaden announced the first project of their America's Road Home, as revolving around marketing a film about homelessness entitled "Where God Left His Shoes." In an article published this morning on AOL.com, Richard Schaden, stated as being the founder of Quiznos, made the announcement in Washington where he and his wife received an award from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Mr. Schaden said he realized he and his business partners could "use their marketing experience to reach people who want to help the homeless but don't know how." Their work started with a donation of $1.5 million to help convert vacant buildings in Denver into apartments for homeless people.

[John Leguizamo will star in "Where God Left His Shoes"] The film, starring John Leguizamo in Chicago and Los Angeles, will first be aired in private screenings in an effort to raise funds for the project. It will then be on television to give viewers a chance to donate by text message. They also have plans to release it on DVD. Mr. Schaden said America's Road Home will pay the capital costs of screening the movie and the merchandise and other investments, but all of the proceeds will go to some 300 cities and counties that adopt 10-year plans to fight homelessness. He said, "The aim is to create a steady stream of money to support those efforts." But the project goes farther than just having people write checks. Mr. Schaden said they were creating a business around each one of these investments. When viewers log in their zip code, their donation will be directed to their community.

Vulcan Productions, owned by Microsoft Corporation's co-founder Paul Allen, committed to donate all the money to the new venture when he recognized strong support from homeless advocates. Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless said in the article that the effort to fight homelessness hasn't had much support from high-profile boosters since Comic Relief in the 1980s. He told how fighting homelessness was important to him and his wife because they have had relatives who have ended up on the streets.

Schaden said that shows how anyone can end up being homeless. "With a volatile economy it can happen pretty quickly."

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