Homeless people are often judged as dirty, addicts or worthless — or they aren’t even seen at all.
“Many times I’ll walk by someone (living on the streets) and say, ‘Good morning, sir. How are you doing?’” said Jennifer Stolo, the CEO of Robert Craig Films whose husband runs a homeless shelter.
“The shock on their faces just saddens me so much because it’s like, ‘Are you talking to me? Nobody talks to me.’
“One time when someone said something back, I asked, ‘What is your name, sir?’
“He looked at me like I had asked him the most difficult mathematical question there was. I said, ‘I’m sorry. I was just asking your name.’
“And he looked at me and he said, ‘I cannot, I cannot remember the last time somebody asked me what my name was.’
“It just broke my heart,” she said.
Authenticity
When the screenplay for “No Address” arrived at Robert Craig Films — whose goal is to “inspire the audience to engage with greater empathy, compassion and generosity in the communities they live in” — they had no doubt they needed to take on this project.
“No Address” is a fictional account of a small group of individuals who live in an encampment for homeless people. It shares their backstories, what life on the streets is like and services that help them.
“While it was inspired by true events, it’s fictional,” Stolo said. “One of our main goals was to ensure its authenticity, knowing intimately the ins and outs of those experiencing homelessness. We wanted to make sure that this truly depicted the bleak realities of homelessness but also the hopefulness and the wonderful programs that are out there that help people out of the situation.
“What we decided to do is embark on a bus tour across the United States in order to study and really research what we call the ‘American crisis,’’’ Stolo said.
Visiting 18 major cities and 20 states — many of which have high levels of homelessness — Robert Craig Films interviewed about 175 front-line workers. These included CEOs of nonprofits like the Salvation Army and Citygate Network as well as experienced mental health care workers and other experts.
However, after finishing the tour, the Screen Actors Guild went on strike. The film had to be put on hold.
Robert Craig Films decided to go ahead and use the footage and information learned to make the related documentary, “Americans With No Address,” which touched so many hearts that it’s being considered for an Academy Award.
Making the documentary wasn’t the end of telling the story of homelessness for Robert Craig Films.
After “Americans With No Address” was released, they resumed making the film “No Address,” which features many well-known stars such as William Baldwin, Ashanti, Xander Berkeley and Ty Pennington. It will be released Feb. 28.
During the making of the film, the screenplay was also winning awards within the film festival circuit. This led to additional media, including the novel by the same name written by Ken Abraham, a New York Times bestselling author. There is also an audiobook version voiced by Grammy Award-winning actress and singer Ashanti.
More material
Though the documentary, film and book — as well as an amazing soundtrack — have all increased awareness, this wasn’t the end goal. Change was.
To that end, the final piece was to develop an interactive study guide complete with a video component. Though it can be used by individuals or groups that are not faith-based, it’s mostly geared toward faith-based organizations and churches.
Using the documentary as an introduction, it consists of four sessions to be completed over four to six weeks, but it also has enough material to be explored in depth given more time.
Each session includes:
- Excerpts from the book to be read before the meeting
- Questions for group discussion
- Related videos
- A “What Does the Bible Say?” component
- A “Go and Do” section that always asks, “What can you do as a group and individually this week to apply what you learned about homelessness?”
- A prayer prompt based on the session’s topic
Pulling away stigma, judgment
“Even if you can’t do all of these things (in the study guide) — you don’t have the time or the resources — the most important thing actually is just understanding how people feel invisible and pulling away that stigma and that judgment on them,” Stolo said.
“It’s a matter of understanding that organizations don’t just need volunteers on Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas weekend. They need it 365 times a year. There’s time any time in the year that we can stop and take an hour to go volunteer in a shelter.
“It changes people’s lives when they do it. I so encourage people, if they would spend one hour in a shelter, sitting at a table, having a conversation with someone to learn their backstory, they would walk out of there a completely different person.
“Even one interaction of saying hello can change someone’s trajectory of life.”
Half of the profits from any of the “No Address” media will go to more than 1,000 organizations that help homeless people in their communities. To find out more go to www.noaddressmovie.com.
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