DECATUR -- It started with a casual conversation between a pair of assistant coaches at a basketball summer camp and eventually led to a donation from an unlikely source.
During a summer camp at Rogers Heritage High School, Mike Eckels asked Katy Sojka if she knew of a good place to purchase a new vehicle. Eckels' beloved old 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup was burning oil, and he knew it was time to let it go.
A text message to a local sales representative and Eckels was sent to look at a new vehicle the following week.
On the Monday following the basketball camp, Eckels drove to Landers Toyota of Northwest Arkansas to meet with Juan Mason, a sale representative for the Rogers-based used car dealership.
Sojka had used Mason to purchase two vehicles and she knew Eckels would be treated right by him -- and he was.
Eckels was in the market for another truck, but with the economy in distress, used trucks were out of his price range. In the end, Mason hooked Eckels up with a 2016 Chevy Equinox which Eckels was able to drive home that same afternoon.
Toyota has a program in place that if one of their customers recommends a new client and that client purchases a vehicle, they will get back a rebate. One month after Eckels bought the Equinox, Mason contacted Sojka about this rebate. She requested that it be donated to the Decatur Lady Bulldog basketball team, which she helps coach.
On Sept.19, with the entire senior varsity girls basketball team dressed in game uniforms, Mason presented a check for $600 from Landers Toyota of NWA to the Decatur Lady Bulldog basketball program.
Fess Thompson, head girls basketball coach, Katy Sojka, Mike Eckels, and the entire Decatur High School varsity girls basketball team thanked Juan Mason and Landers Toyota of Northwest Arkansas for the generous donation which will be used to purchase spandex shorts to be worn under the girls' uniform shorts.