By DAISY WASHINGTON / Community Columnist

“Jesus went about doing good. That’s what we have to do,” 70-year-old Peg Hill said.

After retiring from 33 years of service in the field of education, Hill was guided to her next mission by a phone call she received from Captain Jay Fondren in the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department, asking her if she would consider overseeing the Shelby County Jail Ministry.

“They teach from the Bible, pray with the inmates, provide counseling, distribute Bibles and provide Christmas goodies at Christmas time,” she said. Teams enter the jail on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday afternoons. “We leave laughing and rejoicing and other times with a heavy heart and tears. But as volunteers, we receive so much more than we give. We truly live in a county of caring people.”

She has volunteered with the jail ministry for the past 20 years.

“When I see the hardened heart soften, laughter come, joy return and see tears from an inmate, I know we are touching lives and making an impact in the community one by one,” she said.

She teaches Sunday school, sings in the choir of First Baptist Church of Columbiana and has taken mission trips with youth to teach Bible School in Migrant Camps in South Africa.

She has traveled three times to Africa to give school supplies in a village close to her camp while she was on vacation.

She also volunteers with the Meals on Wheels program in which she delivers meals to senior citizens in the community who are homebound.

She serves on the board of Main Street Columbiana and on the board of the Shelby Woods Housing Program.

For the most part, Hill’s time is always spoken for through her involvement in the community.

“I don’t have time for hobbies,” she said. “I play Mexican Train Dominos with friends; sometimes, I eat out.”

Hill has been an RSVP member since 2009 and has logged 1,736 hours.