Kenzie Butts
by Christi Marsico
Kenzie Butts was abandoned at a train station in Nanning, China, when she was an infant.
In 1997, when she was 10 months old, she was adopted by the Butts family and has lived in Casper since.
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Knowing from a young age that she was adopted, Kenzie is compassionate about helping other Chinese children in non-government orphanages.
This 12-year-old, with the aid of her church, Shepherd of the Hills, and other youth groups, has made multi-colored and patterned fleece blankets to send to the orphanages.
Along with making blankets, Kenzie has raised $1,200 for these orphanages to help aid their needs for heaters, coal, medicines and food.
She collected the money by placing buckets with information about her cause in a variety of places around Casper.
Her passion to help others was set ablaze last summer when she attended a Chinese heritage camp in Colorado and learned about the non-government orphanages.
"I am lucky to get adopted," Kenzie said.
"Children and people who work there could get frostbite," she explained, adding that if the coal runs out and there is no money, blankets could help those in need.
So Kenzie chose to help with blankets to focus on the needs of the orphanages that might not have heat.
"We cut the edges of the blankets and fringed them,” Kenzie noted. “We sewed the fringed edges for the babies and let the other blankets with fringe just be for the older kids.”
Learning about heritage
Reciting facts, the sixth-grader declared that "every year, 52,000 babies are abandoned in China and every year, 5,200 babies are adopted internationally."
Understanding that policies in China are reforming, Kenzie stated that she would forgive her parents.
"If I could say anything to my parents, I would forgive them,” she said. “I wouldn't be living with the parents I have now if things had been different.”
The Chinese heritage camp helped Kenzie to learn and understand her situation, as well as encourage research projects about China and their government.
China’s “One Child Policy” might force parents to abandon babies for a variety of reasons, including poverty and not having the means to take care of a disabled child, she explained.
However, Kenzie noted that the Chinese culture is changing.
Kenzie smiled at her motto: "Follow your dreams because they always come true if you stick with it."
With future project considerations, such as a kids for kids nonprofit group and gathering local talent together to do a performance and donate the profits to charities, Kenzie has a lot on her plate.
Among many of her talents, she loves to dance and recently won first place at the Spotlight Dance competition.
Since December, Kenzie has been choreographing her ribbon dance piece, "Two Worlds, One Dance," in which she combines jazz, ballet and Chinese lyrical dancing.
With ambitions of becoming a dance instructor when she grows up, Kenzie also wants to continue to help children in orphanages around the world.
With charm, grace and heart, this young lady is dancing to a beat of progress and beauty beyond compare.
For more information on Kenzie's projects, call 233-8441.