Longtime youth pastor Marshall Lopez, who transformed his church career into a free-standing ministry to help erring youngsters find their way, said the teenagers who land in the arms of the Texas Youth Commission want to lead good lives.

They just don’t know how to make it happen and their parents don’t know how to teach them, Lopez said.

He felt a need 6 1/2 years ago to make a full-time job of assisting the youths. He named his program after looking down a railroad track one day and thinking of how it takes a flip of a switch to send a train on the right track.

Marshall Lopez talks to a TYC juvenile as part of his Right Track Ministries.
Jerry Larson / Waco Tribune-Herald

So Right Track Ministries was created, with Lopez, his family and a few friends shouldering the load of trying to correct the courses of youths who have found themselves behind rows of razor wire while their peers walk free and return home every night.

Although Right Track Ministries occasionally works in public schools, its primary focus in the corrections system is TYC’s McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility II at Mart.

Called Mart II for short, it stands side-by-side with Mart I, a receiving facility that tests and orients youthful offenders from all over the state.

Lopez and his six volunteer mentors locate youths from McLennan County in Mart II. They befriend and counsel the teens while they’re incarcerated, cooperating with Chaplain Paul Jhant, psychologists and other staff members.

They continue to work with the youths and their families after the teens are released, usually to the same home life they were in when they were sent to TYC for felonies.

Gaining trust

“Finding the young people when they got home was my first vision when we started Right Track in October 2004,” Lopez said. “But finding them after they were released was difficult. Then we got the idea of working with them first on the inside and gaining their friendship and trust, so that we would have their contact information.

“It’s not hard for them to see the right track when it’s shown to them by counselors, chaplains and others, but the hardest part is staying on track,” he said. “With few exceptions, they want to lead good lives and their families want the best for them.

“Sometimes the families are good and the children are led astray by peers or other outside influences. But many parents were born into problem conditions and never learned the right skills and disciplines.

“They don’t know how to make sacrifices for their kids. And these days, they’re caught up in the same over-busyness that plagues most people, so they’re even less available.”

Lopez said a youth may want or need something in an impoverished household and he has been told he must work for it or wait until his parents can help buy it.

But, Lopez said, the waiting and working seems endless and the dollars always come up short. Eventually, the youth decides the right track leads nowhere and he applies his old skills in theft, drug pushing or prostitution.

But if he has a trusted friend, he may report his intentions, Lopez said.

“That’s when we can tell him we understand his feelings and desires and frustrations, but they don’t justify wrongdoing, which will lead to worse pain and frustration, and on and on,” he said. “It’s better to go without the material thing and live within his means until he learns to increase his means.”

Getting involved

Jhant would like to see retired seniors visit the youths to share their knowledge and insights.

“Many of these youths have been in and out of juvenile court many times until the judge finally gives up and sends them here,” Jhant said. “I’d like to have more retired people who have several hours at a time to talk with the young people, play games with them, listen and just show that someone cares.

“Most of our worst discipline problems are the ones who never get visitors. But few volunteers are as intense, personal and understanding as Marshall and his associates.”

The needs of each young person are different. Some earned their GEDs while still confined and Lopez will take them to McLennan Community College, Texas State Technical College or other places where they can begin to lead productive and rewarding lives.

“There are others that give no sign of any progress,” Lopez said, “but they remember you and what you’ve done for them. Once I was just a pen pal with a young fellow and the first thing he did on his release was call me.

“He said, ‘Do you know me?’ It took a minute, but I realized who he was. I had helped him without knowing it and had the chance to keep helping him.”

Right Track Ministries has had as difficut journey itself. It’s a registered nonprofit corporation, but Lopez, running it alone, has had to learn by experience.

Lopez also worked with youths in McLennan County’s Bill Logue Juvenile Justice Center and formed a caseload of about 40, too many to give enough time and energy to each person.

Funding sources

Then, although Lopez alone draws a salary, funding sources dried up and he had to take an outside job, which halted momentum.

He was able to build up funding, which has allowed him to work fulltime as director. He hopes to add other full-time staff members, with an eye at assigning a mentor to three youths.

In the meantime, he’s trying to attract more volunteers.

“I need people better than I am at administration and some who can write grant proposals, plus more who want to work with the kids,” he said. “Some people don’t realize they want to do this until they’re introduced to it. It’s just a matter of finding them. And there’s enough money to make much more of an impact. It’s just a matter of finding that, too.”

Starfish story

The sheer volume of opportunities makes the starfish story one of his guiding lights:

A man walking along a beach found an old man picking up one starfish after another stranded by a storm and throwing them back in the ocean. The stranger asked him why.

“I’m saving starfish,” the old man said.

The stranger said, “But there are thousands on this beach. How can what you’re doing possibly make a difference?”

The old man picked up another starfish and threw it.

“It makes a difference to this one,” he said.

Lopez said one “obstacle” will remain.

“People have advised me that I could probably raise more money if I would drop the word ‘ministries’ from Right Track’s name,” he said. “But I’d be dropping the kind of support I want above all else.”

dbolding@wacotrib.com

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