From the heart.
In community.
For the sole.

Hi there, if you’re reading this, thank you. You’ve not only taken an interest in the work of Heart Kicks, but are also bearing witness to healing in action through shoe restoration, art, and community.

My name is Leroy Mitchell (any/all), and I am the founder of Heart Kicks. I created Heart Kicks in June 2023 as the next step in my own process of healing and coming home to myself. On November 28, 2022, at only 29 years old, I experienced a heart attack that completely altered my life and who I understood myself to be. Years of overworking, avoiding vulnerability, and neglecting my own needs had taken their toll, not just on my mental health, but on my physical health as well.

One day, while thrifting, I found a pair of shoes I liked that needed to be cleaned and restored. As I began working on them, I felt a wave of calm and heard a quiet but resounding internal “yes.” Restoring and customizing shoes allowed me to center joy, be present with myself, and nurture parts of my heart, both literally and figuratively, that I did not know needed love.

In my work with youth, I began noticing many of them experiencing the same stress, anxiety, pressure, and disconnection I had felt. At our first Heart Kicks event, the space we created allowed young people to share their challenges, support one another, create something meaningful, and connect in powerful ways. From that experience, I began developing a curriculum that draws direct connections between the process of restoring shoes and the process of caring for our mental health.

Since then, Heart Kicks has grown from a single workshop into a broader practice rooted in connection, creation, and community. We like to say that people may come for the shoes, but they stay for the relationships, the care, and the love they experience along the way. We believe everyone deserves opportunities to reconnect with themselves and with others, and sometimes that journey can start with something as simple as a pair of shoes, a brave space, and the question: What have your shoes seen you through?

Heart Kicks is ultimately about more than restoration. It is about reminding people that what has been worn down, overlooked, or carrying more than it was meant to carry can still be cared for, transformed, and given new meaning. That is what this work has done for me, and it is the possibility we hope to create for every person who enters a Heart Kicks space.

Thank you for being here, for believing in this work, and for becoming part of the community we are continuing to build step by step, moment by moment, story by story.

From the heart, sole to soul. Welcome — Leroy Mitchell (any/all), Founder, Heart Kicks