Kenzie Scanlon had a tumultuous childhood, but one bright spot was the year she and her siblings all got gifts thanks to her community
For Kenzie Scanlon, ringing in the holidays wasn't always a joyous time. Her tumultuous upbringing was marked by both parents battling addiction, her father's arrest, a house fire that destroyed all the family's belongings, and then her father's sudden death.
Some bright spots, however, were the times she and her siblings got Christmas gifts, thanks to donors who had picked their names from her Texas high school's Angel Tree and fulfilled their wishes.
Scanlon wants to make sure other kids get to experience the same happiness, so the college freshman returned to her old school last week to become an Angel Tree donor herself.
"I know how hard it is to be a student in that situation," Scanlon tells PEOPLE. "I want to be that bright spot in other kids' lives."
Scanlon, 19, the oldest of four siblings, says she knows how much a kind gesture can mean, especially for people who've suffered through such an unstable childhood.
Her parents, who split when she was young, both had trouble keeping jobs and were in and out of their kids' lives, she said. Her father abused drugs, was imprisoned for shoplifting and later died at age 38 after some pancreatic ulcers ruptured, Scanlon says.
Meanwhile, Scanlon had to step in and act as caregiver to her siblings over the years when her mother was involved with abusive boyfriends and often wasn't home, she says. One time when her mother wasn't there, faulty wiring sparked a fire and the house burned down, she says. They moved to a new house but Scanlon and her brother later moved out and went to live with other families after a separate incident.
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Her brother, Ayden, 16, says Scanlon made all the difference for him.
"Kenzie practically raised us," he tells PEOPLE. "Honestly, if it wasn't for Kenzie I wouldn't be doing as good as I am inside of school or outside of it."
During her high school career, Scanlon was voted class president at New Caney High School in Texas, took multiple dual-credit and AP classes, played percussion in the band and performed in school plays.
It was a good way, she said, "to show my siblings that with everything we're going through that we can still be involved and be better than our circumstances."
One of the most meaningful school activities, she said, was participating in the annual Angel Tree program, in which teachers, students and parents raise money to buy gifts for about 200 deserving kids, while students organize and wrap presents.
In 2021, Scanlon and her siblings were among the beneficiaries. At Christmas time, they all got gifts, including some favorites of hers like a James Avery charm bracelet and AirPods. The younger kids also received gifts the next two years.
"It helped a lot when I was going through everything," Scanlon says. "It really did feel like our community cared about us."
Community support also enabled her to go to college, she said. Last year she was one of the winners of a $20,000 scholarship from the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, which this year plans to give out more than $28 million in scholarships.
Scanlon is now a first-generation college student attending Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, but made it a point to come back to her old high school to participate in the Angel Tree program.
It's made her "so happy," she says, "knowing I'm giving back."