More than 500 people packed the Bridgewater United Church February 23 to bid farewell to Karissa Boudreau, a little girl many who attended the memorial service had never met, but had come to care about in the past four weeks. They had worried for her after she was reported missing on January 27, then shed tears when her body was found on the bank of the LaHave River on February 9 and shook their heads in disbelief when the news came February 14 that police are investigating her death as a homicide.

 Nine churches came together to help local residents grieve in a shared service of prayers, music, scripture and memories. Photos of Karissa sat on a table at the front of the church with teddy bears, flowers and a candle. More photos of Karissa and children's artwork arranged on pink and yellow cardboard decorated either side of the front aisle.

 Pastor Paul Jensen, of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, delivered a memorial address for Karissa with memories provided by family members. He spoke about a little girl who loved animals, girl music, dance lessons with her mom, and the television show "Anne of Green Gables." Her favourite colour was pink and her favourite food was pizza and, although she was 12, she still enjoyed playing with Barbies.

 The pastor relayed a memory now cherished all the more by her father, Paul Boudreau, of Karissa as a toddler learning to walk. She crawled up on her father's chest, looked him in the eyes and said, "I love you, Daddy."

 Judy Norton of the Bridgewater United Church recognized that the community is in mourning and feels it somehow let Karissa down.

 "We want to think of our community as a safe place for every child. Today, we acknowledge our loneliness that the life of this child should come to an end so tragically in our midst," she said.

 Rev. Eric Campbell, of the Bridgewater Baptist Church, urged those attending to believe that Karissa is in a better place.

 "I don't want to stand here as a pastor and tell you that I understand why Karissa was killed and that God has some master plan in this and that I understand it all, because that's not true. I don't understand it. This is a tragedy and this is something that happened to a young girl who had her whole life ahead of her and had so much to give," Rev. Campbell said.

 But he urged people to take Karissa's death as a lesson. He asked people to be open-minded when they walk down the street and see children with earrings or unusual hairstyles.

 "Remember, these are our children and these are God's children, and you love them and you watch out for them. You care for them," he said.

 "I want to challenge you in this community to love each other, really love each other," Rev. Campbell said. "That way Karissa has a real legacy here."

 Karissa's grandmother, Suzanne Grear, and her husband attended the memorial service, along with several members of the extended family. Her parents did not attend.

 Many staff members and students from Bridgewater Elementary were present, including a group of peer helpers who wore yellow armbands on their jackets in memory of Karissa, who was a peer helper during her brief time at the school. Alex Abriel was one of them and admitted he was sad.

 "We're all coming to her memorial service to pay our respects to her," he said.

 Guidance counsellor Belinda Josephson runs the peer helper program, which trains students to assist other students in the school and on the playground.

 "Basically we've just been working together as a school to try to heal together," Ms Josephson said. "She was wonderful, a great little leader and she actually volunteered to do extra work on the playground as a playground helper. I was very pleased with her. She was a really special student."