Kenna Wright's Shoe Odyssey

Anita Creamer had a great story today in the Sacramento Bee regarding Step One's Kenna Wright, and her project:

Kenna Wright, who turns 16 later this month, is all about the shoes.

"I love shoes," she says.

"Kenna is a shoe fanatic," says her mother, Mary Wright.

"For my sweet 16 party, my friend's making a huge cake in the shape of a shoe," says Kenna. "It's the theme of the party."

...But Kenna's Nov. 17 party is a benefit of sorts: Instead of gifts, she's asking guests to bring new athletic shoes to be sent to the children of the Ethiopian orphanage where she lived until she was 13 months old.

"We want people to know about it and to donate," she says.

It's a quiet afternoon at Step One Dance & Fitness, the midtown studio that Mary Wright has owned for 20 years with her partner, Pepper Von. Classes haven't geared up yet for the day, but hip-hop music blares over the sound system.

Kenna, a sophomore at the Natomas Charter Performing and Fine Arts Academy, says her earliest memories are of being here in the studio. She remembers nothing of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital.

"I was told I was found on the street next to a church," she says. "It's a really amazing story. Two ladies found me and took me to the orphanage."

When Mary adopted Kenna from Le Toukoul orphanage, she was malnourished, clinging to life.

...Africa – land of her birth if not of her memories – is in Kenna's soul, too. On the Internet, she and Mary have seen photos of children living at Le Toukoul, walking barefoot through unpaved streets that stay muddy in the long rainy season.

"My mother came up with the idea of sending them shoes, and I thought it was really cool," says Kenna.

And so the party, which will also celebrate Step One's 20th anniversary, and the shoe-donation plan.

After the shoes are collected, the Wrights plan to take them to Dove Adoptions International, an Oregon agency that places children from Le Toukoul in American homes. From there, the shoes will be packed in the luggage of adoptive families traveling to Ethiopia, delivered in a way that will allow the orphanage to avoid paying exorbitant customs fees.

Making an announcement after step aerobics class on Monday, Pepper Von arched his eyes in mock horror, as if to imply that the thought was the silliest thing in the world, said "Now, on your way out tonight, don't pass by the front counter, look at the collection box, and say 'So, you're selling shoes now too?'"

So, on my way out the door, I looked at what I presumed was the collection box (incongruously filled with ballet slippers and jazz shoes) looked up at the wall, on which was posted something that looked like a price list, and thought to myself "So, you're selling shoes now too?"

Which just means Kenna's shoe project is just getting started. So, bring as many athletic shoes as you can to Step One (19th and T Streets), help bury the show biz shoes, and help Kenna out in her worthy project!

[UPDATE: Oh! I was looking to the right of the refrigerator, rather than to the left...]