Empty Shoe Project

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The Empty Shoe Project is Hope On Deck’s annual memorial honoring individuals whose lives were lost to substance use disorder.

Hundreds of pairs of empty shoes are displayed alongside memorial signs bearing the names, photographs, and stories of loved ones who are deeply missed. Each pair represents something no statistic ever could—a person who lived, loved, mattered, and was so much more than the disease that took them.

The stories shared by their families remind us that substance use disorder does not discriminate. Behind every overdose statistic is a mother, father, son, daughter, sibling, spouse, friend, or someone’s someone.

The Empty Shoe Project was created to honor their lives, give grieving families a place for remembrance, reduce the stigma surrounding substance use disorder, and bring greater awareness to the devastating impact addiction has on individuals, families, and entire communities.

The event also provides access to Narcan, overdose-prevention education, harm-reduction information, recovery resources, and connections to community support.

And when the memorial ends, the shoes continue their purpose.

Whenever possible, donated shoes from the display are distributed to individuals experiencing homelessness, people entering treatment or recovery, sober-living residents, and others in our community who need them.

A pair of empty shoes first tells the story of a life that mattered—and then becomes an act of compassion for another life that still does.

The Empty Shoe Project is more than a memorial.

It is remembrance. It is awareness. It is action. And above all, it is a promise that those we have lost will not be forgotten.