KENT COUNTY, Mich — Ray O’Laughlin has spent decades behind bars, not as an inmate, but as a mentor. He has dedicated his life to offering second chances and continues to show up for others as he faces his toughest battle yet: stage four cancer.
"You hear this hurt, you hear this pain, you hear this grief, it's very common," O'Laughlin told FOX 17 News." We can focus on the hurt, the whys and all this stuff, but there's a life to live."
O'Laughlin, a former McDonald's executive, began his outreach with a prison ministry in the 1990s.
"I saw freedom. I saw peace. I saw a joy, joy in a prison with guys that are doing life bits, right? Like, like sentences," he explained.
He has found joy through his faith and making an impact on those incarcerated.
In 2009, O'Laughlin felt called to reach a younger audience and began working with teens in the Kent County Juvenile Justice System.
"I don't want to look at how you fell down. We all know that," he said. "I want to help you get up. Do you want to get up?"
The focus is not on punishment, but personal responsibility and possibility.
"Why do I like working with youth? It's because I relate to them a lot," he said. "If you get one, you get a whole family, usually, because it's interesting how they influence when they get out and if and when they get out."
O'Laughlin, who came from a broken home with an alcoholic father, uses his story of beating the odds to break through.
He shared his message in a TED Talk and in his book "Plan to Win", where he aims to offer transferable life lessons.
He brings his values-driven mindset to another journey: his fight against carcinoid cancer.
"They tell me, probably my finish line is coming at me. I was running towards the finish line. Well, now the finish line is coming at me."
After receiving his cancer diagnosis, he was given a 61 percent chance of surviving five years or more. Now, eight years later, he continues to inspire and make the most of his time.
He volunteers at the Kent County Jail every Friday with West Michigan Youth for Christ as his health allows.
"We invite them into their story they're going to create," he said. "The answers to the streets are those teens that I'm talking to in that room, one-on-one... if anyone's going to fix the streets, it's going to be them."
O'Laughlin, who has dedicated his life to helping people rewrite their story, is now living out his most powerful chapter yet.
"My vision for myself is to always hear those words, 'Well done, my true and faithful servant'. That's all that matters to me."
As the FOX 17 and Lake Michigan Credit Union Pay it Forward Person of the Month, O'Laughlin receives a $550 prize.
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Meet Jennifer Clark, our June 2025 Pay it Forward Person of the Month.
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