School is almost back in session in the Castle Country area, and along with that comes the need for new school supplies such as new clothes, pencils, notebooks and shoes.

According to a study performed by runrepeat.com, the average lowest cost of a pair of shoes is $94, an amount that can cause a hefty dent in a checkbook. Luckily for the community, the United Way of Eastern Utah is preparing to host its Soles 2 Souls pop-up shoe shop to help the children of Eastern Utah go back to school in shoes that fit on Saturday, Aug. 10 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Price City Peace Garden.

Castle Country Radio sat down with Pam Boyd, the executive director for the United Way of Eastern Utah to talk about the event as well as how to get involved.

“Soles 2 Souls is our example of working on our mission with the United Way, which is to improve lives by harnessing the caring power of community,” explained Boyd,” We do that in a big way at the Souls to Souls pop-up shops by providing back-to-school shoes.”

Boyd then dove into more detail about what the pop-up shop entails,” what we do in these events is that we bring a whole lot of shoes out and people bring their kids and we give them a pair of shoes and there’s no paperwork and there’s no charge.” Boyd continued,” I would encourage you to show up early because you know we have 500 pairs of shoes but we don’t have an unlimited supply. The kids also need to be present because we will measure their feet and make sure that they get shoes that fit them correctly.”

Another fact that makes this pop-up shop stand out is that United Way has a working relationship with New Balance which allows the organization to give out high-quality shoes for free. ”Soles 2 Souls is funded by donors … and we have this working relationship with New Balance that we’re able to fill our order from their overstock and discontinued list. Because of that, we’re able to get their shoes at an average cost of about $25 a pair.”

Closing out our conversation, Boyd shared this,” I’m excited, this is the third time we’ve done this here in Price. We’re excited to bring the event back. It’s a wonderful day and we’re excited to do this for the community.”

The United Way of Eastern Utah’s Soles 2 Souls pop-up shoe shop will be held on Saturday, Aug. 10 from 9 a.m. to noon in the Price City Peace Garden at 185 East Main Street in Price. For more information and to stay up to date with United Way of Eastern Utah, you can visit their website or Facebook page.