BEAUMONT, Texas — A non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of former criminals gave one Beaumont man a second chance at life.
It’s called 'Highways and Hedges'. Their mission is to transform the lives of individuals by teaching others how to overcome the common struggles and hardships of life, according to their website.
Derrick Shepeard spent years in jail for a drug crime, but after getting out of jail, Highways and Hedges helped him turn his life around.
Shepeard grew up along Gladys Avenue in Beaumont's north end. He says all he knew were drugs, fighting and chasing women.
"I allowed this neighborhood to kind of fashion my life and the different choices that I made. Going after the money, the prestige, having the fancy cars," Shepeard said.
He grew up in a single-parent home, accustomed to street life that he says included dealing drugs, gang, pimps and fighting.
Shepeard dropped out of Central High School in ninth grade to sell drugs and make money.
"It wasn't a lot of promotion, you know, go to college, be a lawyer, you're gonna be a doctor, this was the hand that I was dealt. So I learned how to be the best at what I was presented with," he said.
Shepeard took the fall for a fellow dealer at one point, which landed him behind bars for four years.
"Being incarcerated you have to, they tell you when to go to sleep, they tell you when to eat, they tell you when to shower, all these types of things so it built some sort of structure in my life," he said.
Structure was something Shepeard was missing before he went to jail. Once he got out, his mom put him in touch with Highways and Hedges.
With this the help of this non-profit, Shepeard was surrounded by others seeking that second chance in life and touched by their vision to live a life closer to God.
"That really inspired me and I said, 'man, if they can do it, I can do it'," he said.
Montez Powell says he used to run from the cops and do drugs before being locked up.
That was before he found Highways and Hedges, which changed his life. Now he's president of the non-profit.
"we are for all men, it's not just one nationality but for all mankind, that for whatever condition you are in, God can really change you and your condition," Powell said.
The non-profit, together with churches and other volunteers, marches and travels around the country to help people overcome their struggles, whether they be former criminals or people going through hard times.
For Shepeard, who now runs his own lawn service in Beaumont, Highways and Hedges showed him the light.
"You can do better. You can do better by making a choice to do better by a life change," he said.
Shepeard is now the director of the Beaumont chapter of Highways and Hedges.
The non-profit will be hosting a march Saturday at 5:30 p.m., which will start at Best Buy on Eastex Freeway and go to Refuge Temple Ministries on Crow Road.