MEDINA, Texas - A year and a half ago, Anabel Reid and fellow Abilene Christian University volunteers helped clear a pasture at Medina Children’s Home.

On a recent Saturday, supporters of Arms of Hope — the ministry that oversees the children’s home — celebrated the opening of a 250-seat chapel built on the tree-lined site where Reid donated time and sweat.

Arms of Hope dedicated a prayer room at the new chapel in memory of Reid, a 19-year-old sophomore killed last fall in a bus crash on her way to ACU’s annual Medina service project.

A slide show played at the ceremony showed Reid sporting a purple Abilene Christian shirt and holding a chainsaw — a big smile on her face.

“There were pictures that I had never seen,” said Shelly Reid, Anabel’s mother and a member of the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas. “That always takes me back a little bit. But I wouldn’t trade that.”

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