LaSandra and Luap McKeever, when not running a handful of home-grown businesses, fill their time with volunteering in the community.
"I kind of dabble in everything," LaSandra said.
When she began looking for somewhere to volunteer, she called the county clerk's office and spoke to Kim Bell, who referred her to Lynn Tatum of the McDonald County Historical Society. LaSandra joined the board and got to know people in Pineville, including McDonald County emergency management director Gregg Sweeten. From his influence, she joined CERT, which helps with disaster cleanups and other volunteer opportunities, and also became a weather spotter. Weather spotters communicate weather conditions to the office of emergency management during severe weather situations.
From there, LaSandra's network grew, she said. She and Luap joined the Republican Club and began learning about the politics of the area. Then they were nominated to represent the Mountain Township, where they live, for the Republican Central Committee. With that role, she said, it is important to know the community and what issues are important to people, and so they got out and met their surrounding community members.
During that process, she met Monty Muehlebach at Sims Corner and asked him if she could set up a farmers market there. That was about a year ago, she said.
"I am a servant leader," she said. "It fills my heart to lead by example. It's something I want to share with my children and grandchildren. And I love my community. They're family. It's very rewarding and fulfilling."
Luap said he is involved in the McDonald County Chamber of Commerce and a committee of the chamber of commerce called County Connector, which promotes and connects businesses. He is a member of multiple business alliances from Fort Smith to Kansas City in which he tries to drive more business into McDonald County.
He and LaSandra are the founders of Mountain Happenings at Sims Corner, where they hosted a fall festival and fed people at Thanksgiving and Christmas. He is a member of the American Legion at Pineville, American Legion Riders and Patriot Guard Riders.
He owns and operates Ozark Computer Works in Bentonville, Ark., and has two online businesses, and LaSandra runs McKeever Mountain Farms, in which she grows her own produce and makes jams, salsas and more. Luap grew up in McDonald County, and LaSandra grew up in Charlestown, Ind., moving to McDonald County in 2004.
LaSandra said one of the nice things about their community involvement is that they now know everyone around them and, in case of emergency, they can mobilize their neighbors. For example, one of their neighbors had a bad house fire and they were able to quickly reach out to others and gather resources such as food and supplies for the family.
One major event the couple is supporting is coming up this summer on Aug. 7. It is a poker run for the Saber Life Foundation, a nonprofit based in Pineville that helps match disabled individuals with service dogs. The dogs, along with their training, can be very pricey, and so the Saber Life Foundation pays for a considerable portion of that.
Luap said the poker run will be an all-day event, starting at 9 a.m. and going to roughly 5 p.m. It will be a 150-mile route starting and ending at Pig Trail Harley in Rogers, Ark. The route will go through parts of both Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri. All proceeds will go to the Saber Life Foundation.
The run will stop at Sims Corner, The Cave Bar and Grill in Lanagan and other destinations. Two Harley-Davidson motorcycles will be raffled off. They are not brand new, but they are nice and certified by Pig Trail Harley, Luap said. There will be cash prizes for the best and worst hand and door prizes such as a DeWalt drill set. Anyone can attend, not just motorcycle riders. Luap said organizers are hoping for 200 participants. The goal is to get one or two service dogs into new homes, he said.