In partnership with Beltway Park Church and URA Guatemala, United Rescue Alliance team took 18 volunteers to El Jocotillo and El Campo, Guatemala. The group accumulated over 2,456 volunteer hours fellowshipping and sharing the Gospel with the community, sharing resources, and building homes. The team of volunteers distributed valuable resources such as 5,275 loaves of Lechem bread to combat malnutrition, 120 Watts of Love solar lights, 220 solar Bibles, 2 solar radios, and 230 backpacks. In addition, the group partnered with an organization called Lignum, a to build a home for a local family! As the pictures above prove, the trip was full of smiles, prayer, and dedication to serving the people of Guatemala!

At the end of July, URA traveled to Tel Aviv, Israel to teach a summer course called Public Health Consequences of Disasters Addressed Through MESSH Response to 31 international masters students from Tel Aviv University. During the course, students learned about Whole Community Disaster Preparedness and URA’s response framework: MESSH (Mental, Emotional, Social, and Spiritual Health) from URA CEO and Founder Angel Poorman, and Director of Program Management, Hannah Eager. Dr. Brenda Zamora, Executive Director of URA Guatemala taught students about Disaster Medical Operations. Dr. Brenda Jones from Lee University taught on Public Health consequences during disasters. Finally, Kailey Quiett, URA’s Emergency Management Coordinator taught about Incident Command Structure in disasters. All of these topics came together to give students a complete picture of MESSH focused disaster response specific to Public Health.

Thanks to generous donations from URA partner, Watts of Love, each student received a solar light to use during disaster response!

The team spent months preparing for this course and were immensely grateful for the opportunity to partner with Tel Aviv University to bring this course to fruition!

In July, United Rescue Alliance hosted another CERT training! 9 West Texas residents got officially trained as CERT members! During the three day training they learned about topics like disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, fire suppression techniques, and disaster psychology. The fourth day was a disaster simulation where students practiced their new skills.

United Rescue Alliance hosts multiple CERT trainings every year. The next training will be December 4th-7th. Click the link below to learn more and sign up!

“Tim Pipes studied theology, chemistry, and criminal justice at ACU for two years before beginning a law enforcement career pretty early in life. Tim has been working closely with URA in advisory and volunteer capacities since 2017, building his relationship with the Poormans and grafting into the URA culture through CERT trainings, deployments, lifegroup activities, and tactical training at Camp Barkeley. Tim became URA's volunteer CERT Program Manager in late 2022. Tim's 31+ total years working in law enforcement capacities with vast tactical, investigative, and instructing experience has prepared him well for this next chapter on staff full-time as the URA Managing Operations Director.

Tim is married with three children and adores his family deeply. Tim became a granddad ("Pop") just over a year ago! Each of his children has a special story and place in his heart. Tim's wife, Brandy, teaches math at Wylie West Junior High School, so she is the smartest in the family. Tim is heavily involved in fitness pursuits, tactical athletic and outdoor activities, enjoys travel/RVing, and fun with family and friends in general. Music and music ministry has also been a huge part of Tim's life, literally since very early childhood, and he continues to work in music ministry roles now as part of Beltway Church's children's ministry worship team. 

Opportunities for Tim's personal growth, service to the community, and service for the Kingdom will only be enhanced through this new partnership role with URA. Tim is excited to love Jesus and others with reckless abandon and to continue to make himself available for all that the Father has in store for him, his family, the URA family and staff, and the Kingdom of Light.”