Essay earns Price man trip to inauguration

More than 50,000 Americans — and about 300 Utahns — donated to Barack Obama's inaugural committee. But William D. Tandy of Price was among 10 people nationally who hit a jackpot for doing it.

As he donated $10 to the committee online, he accepted an offer to write a short essay about what Obama's inauguration means to him. The committee promised to pick 10 of the best essays (from among donors and nondonors) for an all-expenses-paid trip to the inauguration and its key events.

"I didn't expect to win, because I didn't write but two paragraphs," a surprised Tandy said. "I just wanted to say I am a Republican, and I support you."

In his essay, Tandy wrote, "The first question you might ask is why an unemployed Republican is donating." He said it is because Obama is facing a tremendous number of difficult issues, and "we need to focus on these issues and not on fundraising."

His essay added, "If each of us could donate $10, then he would have a clear calendar to conduct the business of our nation."

It was good enough for Tandy to win a trip for him and his wife, Rejeanna to the inauguration. They will be at the swearing-in ceremony, preliminary concerts and ceremonies, at a service day project of preparing care packages for soldiers, and at an inaugural ball. He is unsure whether he will be able to meet Obama personally.

Tandy said in an interview, "We've had 20 years of lackluster presidents. But I'm hoping that we're going to see something better now," and that is one reason he donated.

Tandy had just lost his job in December as the human resources manager for the Four Corners Community Behavioral Health Center because of state budget cuts, but made the donation to the inaugural anyway.

"The counselors are the front line, so you have to keep them working. Someone had to move, so that had to be me," he said. Tandy noted that because he is a certified counselor, "I could have become a counselor, but I had filled all the positions ... I shouldn't have done my job so well."

But things are looking up. He took a part-time job helping to direct a mine and train museum in Price, and the inaugural trip has him excited about life and Obama. "I'm expecting great things from him, and change — and hope people will work together."

Among other winners nationally were a man who left his financial sector job to join the New York City Fire Department after 9/11, a member of the Army whose husband is serving in Iraq, an inner-city school teacher in Baltimore, and a former Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya.