Optimist
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Features
    • Book Review
  • Multimedia
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos
  • Podcasts
    • Optimist Overtime
    • Top of the Key
  • Police Log
  • Print Edition
  • Projects
  • About
    • Advertise
    • Policies
    • Staff Contacts
    • Jobs
You are here: Home / News / Accident shocks Medina Children’s Home

Accident shocks Medina Children’s Home

November 6, 2011 by David Singer

When an ACU shuttle bus veered into a ditch and crashed at an intersection near Ballinger, the students and faculty from the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences were heading south toward Medina Children’s Home, a campus 40 miles northwest of San Antonio, for their annual mission trip.

Medina Children’s Home, part of the not-for-profit Christian care organization Arms of Hope, assists orphans, at-risk youth and single-mother families.

After the accident, word traveled to Medina quickly.

Kevin McDonald, president and CEO of Arms of Hope, received a call about 4:30 p.m. from Medina Children’s Home campus minister Tory Robertson. Friends from Ballinger, where Robertson once served as a youth minister, had begun calling him with news of incident.

“My reaction was complete shock, sorrow and disappointment,” McDonald said.

“We had been very excited about the visit. Everyone gets really excited here when the ACU group comes out. It is a real inspiration to all of us to see young people who are so committed to helping others and making themselves so available to those who are in need of good influences in their lives. And to hear that they had such fantastic plans that were interrupted by such terrible tragedy was really heartbreaking for me and everyone at Medina Children’s Home and Arms of Hope.”

But news of the crash did not just affect the organization’s leaders. It soon spread to those living at the home as well. The 314-acre facility is home to an average of 60 children at its residential group care program and 28 families in the mother/child care program.

“A lot of the children and the families that we help have been accustomed to having bad news for much of their lives,” McDonald said. “The level of disappointment is very noticeable among the young people who had something to be excited about.”

This would have been the department’s seventh consecutive trip to the Medina home with Emmett Miller, assistant professor of range and environmental science.

“Without the help of volunteer groups coming out to help us, it would be impossible for us to take care of our affairs,” McDonald said. “We are always very grateful for the help.”

The ACU students and faculty had a full schedule for their time with the charitable organization, which operates completely on donations and volunteer labor.

“They were going to help out with various tasks around our campus including helping to make repairs and improvements to some of the facilities where our children live and helping us maintain some of our agricultural land,” McDonald said.

But to McDonald, the true benefit of the visit was due to something more than labor.

“There are a lot of things here that go way deeper than just a group of students coming to work with some disadvantaged children,” he said. “There’s a lot of relationships here.”

Students would always cook dinner on Saturday night for the campus of nearly 200. Afterwards, many would join the children and families and play basketball or do crafts.

“It was that time that was most treasured by our children,” he said. “To be able to be around students who are successful and who have taken time out of their busy schedule to come and unselfishly be with them and encourage them makes a huge difference in their lives.”

Some of these relationships came from more than just the yearly mission trip.

McDonald, a long-time friend of Miller, also has many relatives who attended and remain connected to ACU.

One student involved in the crash, Kendra Unamba, junior pre-med major from Midlothian, had spent the past summer as an intern for the organization.

“She developed many close relationships with the children in our care,” said McDonald. “There has been an especially high level of concern by our students for Kendra.”

McDonald visited Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo and Abilene Regional Medical Center over the weekend to deliver these cards and artwork produced by the children at the Medina campus for those still being treated for injuries in the accident. He also planned to attend Chapel on Monday morning. In addition, the prayer room of a chapel under construction at the Medina campus will be dedicated to all students involved in the wreck.

Arms of Hope already had planned its annual dinner for Nov. 19 with a keynote from Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university. McDonald said the dinner will continue as planned and will honor Anabel Reid.

“The money that we are able to raise at that event will be used for scholarships for our children in honor of those students that have made sacrifices for our organization,” McDonald said.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Bus Accident

Other News:

  • Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor Zooms in with Lynay students

  • ACE Sushi arrives to campus for additional dining option

  • 1 in 3 undergraduates did not fulfill fall Chapel requirements

Avatar

About David Singer

David is a graphic design major ('13) from Pflugerville, TX.

You are here: Home / News / Accident shocks Medina Children’s Home

Other News:

  • Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor Zooms in with Lynay students

  • ACE Sushi arrives to campus for additional dining option

  • 1 in 3 undergraduates did not fulfill fall Chapel requirements

Follow us online

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Optimist on Twitter

acuoptimistThe Optimist@acuoptimist·
20h

Approximately 1 in 3 undergraduate students failed to complete their Chapel requirements in the fall semester, but Chapel probation was temporarily suspended. Read more below:
https://acuoptimist.com/2021/01/1-in-3-undergraduates-did-not-fulfill-fall-chapel-requirements/

Reply on Twitter 1352386854704848901Retweet on Twitter 1352386854704848901Like on Twitter 13523868547048489015Twitter 1352386854704848901
acuoptimistThe Optimist@acuoptimist·
20 Jan

"We need to start taking steps toward understanding each other no matter how repulsed we may be initially." Read more from Managing Editor Dillon Daniel below:
https://acuoptimist.com/2021/01/to-achieve-unity-we-need-to-start-listening/

Reply on Twitter 1351990382385479682Retweet on Twitter 1351990382385479682Like on Twitter 13519903823854796822Twitter 1351990382385479682

Optimist on Facebook

The Optimist

20 hours ago

The Optimist
Approximately 1 in 3 undergraduate students failed to complete their chapel requirements in the fall semester, but chapel probation was temporarily suspended. Read more below: ...

1 in 3 undergraduates did not fulfill fall chapel requirements - Optimist

acuoptimist.com

Approximately 1 in 3 undergraduate students failed to complete their chapel requirements in the fall semester. Chapel probation was temporarily suspended in the fall because of challenges with quarantines and less opportunity than a regular semester. Ryan Richardson, associate vice president of stud...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

The Optimist

2 days ago

The Optimist
"We need to start taking steps toward understanding each other no matter how repulsed we may be initially." Read more from Managing Editor Dillon Daniel below: ...

To achieve unity, we need to start listening - Optimist

acuoptimist.com

There is no question that the current climate among Americans is tense and, as the Capitol Hill and 2020 riots show, even hostile. Although these behaviors have always been present, it seems that the last decade has seen an increase in tribal tendencies. We cling to the ankles of our political candi...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Videos

Praise Day Fridays return to campus

Video by Allie Jones. https://youtu.be/4F0D1oNzGjM   ... [Read More…]

  • Optimist Newscast – Nov. 5, 2020
  • ACUTV, Optimist preparing for live election show
  • Earliest snowfall recorded in Abilene

Latest Photos

  • Home
  • Weekly Ads
  • Classifieds

© 2021 ACU Optimist · All Rights Reserved