'Hero for a Day' shoe giveaway will connect police, kids in need

A shoe giveaway is taking on a heroic theme for a DuPage County-based organization that works to bring together police and minority communities.

The theme comes from both the brand of shoes - they're Super Heroic, created by Chicagoan Jason Mayden, a former Nike designer now working with Foot Locker and Nickelodeon - and from Unity Partnership's desire to help kids from marginalized communities and law enforcement workers become heroes in their own way.

"How can a kid be a hero to his or her community and law enforcement a hero to them?" Unity Partnership founder and president Regina Brent said.

Brent, who is from Aurora, said her organization is giving out the $79 value shoes to kids in need through a series of "Hero for a Day" events in coordination with back-to-school bashes across the region. Unity Partnership got the shoes free from Super Heroic after finding sponsors to cover the cost of shipping.

Police, school or neighborhood groups running each event can give out a maximum of 100 pairs, which are sized to fit kids ages 5 to 13. The groups are tasked with finding kids deserving of the freebie and with helping recipients explore the themes of heroism and community responsibility.

"Our hope is to find creative ways to make the giveaway a day to remember for the kids while encouraging meaningful dialogue and reciprocal understanding between youth and law enforcement," Brent wrote in a letter inviting police chiefs to join in the effort. "The shoes are designed around the theme of heroes, and the topic provides a natural springboard for discussion of perceptions and feelings."

The shoes, with a color scheme called "Lava and Black Ice," add to the heroic theme with a cape inside each box. Brent said she hopes recipients of the shoes at events in Aurora, Chicago, Darien, Mooseheart, Wheaton and elsewhere can make connections with law enforcement officers who work where they live.

Making those inroads has been Unity Partnership's aim since its founding in 2016, focusing on cops and on kids.

"We just want to put a smile on their face and show them that law enforcement does care about the future of these kids," Brent said. "We want law enforcement to know we're serious about helping them."

The group has coordinated a traffic stop safety program; hosted Naomi Ruth Barber King, sister-in-law of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to talk with nearly 80 police leaders; delivered flowers as a sign of thanks to the Aurora Police Department after February's mass shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. factory; and participated in a new series of diversity discussions launched this spring in Naperville, among other efforts.

With the shoes, Brent said, Unity Partnership hopes to expand its reach.

"We're trying to spread the wealth," she said.