Let’s Talk Trash! MAR / APRIL 2026 ©2025-2026 The Keenan Group, Inc. Kids Change the World...
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What Can You Do?
Eighth-grader Sarah Buckel wanted a locker that was as colorful and attractive as those of the kids on the Disney Channel, but she dreaded having to peel the paper off at the end of the year. Just as she was dealing with this conundrum, her father became CEO of a company that manufactured magnetic business cards. Inspiration struck, and magnetic locker paper was born. Fast forward one year and Sarah had netted $1 million, which she used to buy the company with her family and expand her product range. Not bad for a kid who hadn’t even started college.
1993, Abbey Fleck was just eight years old when she witnessed her mother chastising her father for using part of a newspaper to soak up bacon grease. Her father maintained that without paper towels, the newspaper was the next best solution. After all, he couldn’t simply let it drip. That was all the inspiration that Abbey needed to invent the Makin’ Bacon Dish, which would hang bacon in the microwave so that fat could drip off. She and her father founded a company, and in 1996, Walmart placed their first order: 100,000 cookers. Not bad for an eight-year-old!
Kelly Reinhart’s parents had an innovative game they used to entertain their children: draw an invention. Kelly took inspiration for her sketch from cowboy holsters. She came up with the idea for the Thigh Pack, a product that would help kids carry video games and similar items. By age nine, she was chairperson of her own company, TPak International, and had close to $1 million worth of orders. There was even interest from Pentagon officials, who thought the Thigh Pack could be of use to soldiers, so Kelly met with them —and indeed the then president, George W. Bush —
to discuss her iAnvention. Kelly attended college classes at Merrimack College, which gave her a special grant to attend classes for free. In addition, she started a foundation for kids who wish to pursue their dreams, and she’s also authored a book, “This Little Pack Goes to the Market,” which she hopes will help kids to realize that “every idea is a good idea.” “The advice I can give to other kids is let their parents know or an adult that they have an idea,” Kelly said. “If the adult does not pursue anything with it, then put the idea in a folder for a later day until old enough to bring up again or when they know who to approach.”
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