A Letter From Becky Wall

Former Director of Women's Recovery Spokane and beloved friend of UGM, Becky Wall shares her family’s involvement in the UGM community and what that experience was like.

Being part of UGM, an environment truly unlike any other, has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. The era reflected in this newsletter was especially formative, full of change, prayer, and a growing understanding of what grace-based ministry could look like.

My husband, Dave, had known about the Mission since his college days with Phil Altmeyer. He carried a deep compassion for people, and long before we ever imagined moving to Spokane, he told Phil, “If you ever need help, I’d love to be involved.” At the time, we were in California, dreaming about full-time ministry and waiting on God’s timing.

In 1988, Phil called, and we moved to Spokane. The landscape of homelessness then looked very different. Alcoholism had been the primary issue for so long, but that was changing; the number of homeless women was rising, and shame hung heavy over issues like addiction, poverty, and homelessness. Healing was hard when judgment was loud. But everything began to shift when people came alongside the Mission to teach what a grace-filled environment could be. That changed the culture in profound ways.

What drew me most to the Mission was the heart of the people and the love of Jesus lived out daily. Our family was comfortable around people whose lives looked different from ours. Dave came home every day with stories of someone encountering Jesus in a fresh way—life-giving, redemptive moments that shaped all of us—and our girls loved hearing those stories. We ate meals at the Mission as a family, our kids even had toys there, and they learned how to love people because they watched their dad do it.

Being part of this ministry changed my life. Sitting with people fighting to break free, watching God restore what felt impossible, gave me a heart for serving that eventually led me into counseling. Today, I have my own practice, and I carry those early years with me in everything I do.

I am forever grateful for UGM; for the people we met, the lives we witnessed being transformed, the opportunity to shape the Mission, and the way it shaped us as a family.

Partnering together,

Becky Wall, former Anna Ogden Hall (now Women's Recovery Spokane) Director