I hope the pen works

If you were without a job or retired and thus watched the KVII noon news a few years back, you may remember Bill Bandy, who read the daily market report each day. Bandy, a native of Panhandle, was with A.G. Edwards and later Wachovia when the company purchased A.G. Edwards.

Now Bandy is with Kids, Inc. He's been a board member and active volunteer of the organization for years. Starting this past Monday, he finally gave into the recruiting of executive director Jimmy Lackey and has taken on the role of vice president of development and marketing.

Apparently one of his first duties is to clean out the Kids, Inc. closet. We met this morning over coffee -- shockingly, he bought -- to give me a desk pen set for being volunteer of the month. In August 2007. I think it's more my fault for not getting over there to get it than anyone at Kids, Inc.

I'm sitting here and trying to figure out what I would have done to earn the volunteer award. Maybe it will come to me.

Kids, Inc. will soon be 65 years old. It continues to be one of the longest-running success stories in Amarillo. With its current staff, that won't change either.