10News Leadership Award Winner Kathy Fackler

Recognize San Diegans Who Initiate Solutions

UPDATED: 2:35 pm PST March 24, 2006

SAN DIEGO -- 10News honors Kathy Fackler as Founder and President of Kids Can Do, a non-profit organization that inspires children to find kid-sized solutions to serious problems affecting the community, democracy and the environment.

Kids Can Do was founded in July 2002 by Fackler and 11 students at La Jolla Country Day School. Their projects help children learn about long-term problems that might affect their future. The organization also helps children look for solutions to today’s problems so they don’t become tomorrow’s obstacles. Kids Can Do helps children discover the power of their own innovative ideas. Projects stress personal responsibility, teamwork, generosity of spirit, communication and respect for all viewpoints.

In one of their projects, the students expressed their faith in democracy through artwork. More than 200 colorful pictures drawn by San Diego students frame the words "We Believe In You," creating a mural that was displayed at San Diego City Hall. The children found a unique way to tell our elected leaders that kids believe in them and remind others that everyone needs encouragement, including national leaders. Their mural hung in the state Capitol and eventually went to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

On September 10, 2003, the California State Legislature passed Assembly Joint Resolution 46 recognizing the children of Kids Can Do for their efforts to encourage child participation in the government and endorsing their proposal to establish permanent display space for children’s artwork and ideas in Congress. The San Diego City Council proclaimed December 8, 2003 to be "Kids Can Do Day" and recognized the children of Kids Can Do for "providing children a voice in matters of government and policy."

Kids Can Do also started a People Appreciation Club where children send letters of encouragement to people who are working to preserve their Children's Fundamental Rights Proclamation. In order to solve serious long-term problems, we have to work together as a team. Creating an atmosphere of encouragement and teamwork is the first step toward building a better world. Kids can create that team spirit by saying "I believe in you." Their latest project involves exploring innovative solutions to climate change by building a go-kart that "burns fewer fossils." The Kids Can Do go-kart was featured at Earth Fair 2005 in Balboa Park.

Kids Can Do is funded entirely through private donations. They are very frugal and teach children through example how to look for imaginative solutions that don’t cost a lot to implement.

Kids Can Do is currently planning a video interview project where kids ask adults to think 20 years ahead and describe the world they want the next generation to inherit. The collation of recorded hopes, dreams and ideas will be distilled into a collective vision of what’s possible. The end product will be a movie created by kids to inspire civic engagement at all ages. Kids Can Do also hopes to add more power to the alternative fuels go-kart this year. They’ve been brainstorming technological solutions with Green Motorsport, a British company dedicated to environmentally-friendly racing.

For more information, please contact Kids Can Do at (858)-551-8068 or visit www.KidsCanDo.org.

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