Here’s a heartwarming story about a Northwest Herald reporter.

It’s about Saundra Brewer, who worked for the NW Herald in 1993 and was assigned to write a story about inmates at the McHenry County Jail.

Reporter Matt Dixon of the Daily Sun in Lake County, Florida, (near Ocala) writes how a 17-year old girl asked her to teach her about the Bible upon release. Brewer did it.

While uncertain of her impact on the young woman, the experience apparently affected her deeply.

Here’s what is in the article:

“‘I was praying and asking God what he wanted me to do with my time. … It was two years (after the first Bible lessons) that I got a specific answer,’ Brewer said.

“That specific answer came after Brewer moved to The Villages in 1995, when a woman who taught Sunday school with her asked if she knew anyone who would be interested in teaching women at the Lake County Jail.”

She’s now a volunteer chaplain at the county jail. She has taught thousands of people and been involved in a transitional living program sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Belleview.

Brewer has written a book entitled, “Released Into God’s Hands” about four of the women.