Apostle Yolanda Valentín-Avilés is the wife of Pastor Daniel Avilés, mother of five, and grandmother to six. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, she carries a deep love and understanding for the people of New York City and its boroughs. While she ministers around the world, she calls Staten Island home today.

With a powerful testimony of God's grace, Apostle Yolanda met the Lord in 1987 and has served Him and His people for decades. She began a prison ministry in 1990, and the following year started coordinating rallies to bring God's Word into drug-affected neighborhoods and parks throughout New York City. After years of evangelizing in prisons and on the streets, she opened Rescue Ministries Inc. in 1996 — its first church-based soup kitchen and food pantry, in Brooklyn. In March 1999, God called her to give birth to what is now Rescue Ministries Church.

Apostle Yolanda and her husband, Pastor Daniel Avilés, continue to follow the Holy Spirit's leading for the church's future. Starting with just 4 members, Rescue Ministries has moved three times to keep up with growth, opening multiple food pantries and soup kitchens along the way. She is an international evangelist who has preached across Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, among others — and God has gifted her to raise up leaders who carry that same passion for the Kingdom alongside her.

Rescue Ministries Church: Reaching souls for Jesus Christ.