Inside IALR

Restoring Hope: the Mission of God's Pit Crew

• Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

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Let's hear from Randy Johnson, founder of God's Pit Crew, a faith-based disaster relief organization headquartered in Danville, Virginia, and Tracy Fink, Vice President of the IALR Conference Center. God's Pit Crew has transformed from a simple altar prayer into an extensive operation that has responded to over 200 disasters across more than 30 states and 15 countries in their 26-year history.

Randy shares the remarkable growth of God's Pit Crew and explains their strategic four-pronged disaster response: delivering essential supplies, providing immediate cleanup and tree removal, rebuilding homes—including an unprecedented commitment of constructing 25 new homes this year for Hurricane Helene victims—and redistributing over $5 million annually in donated goods to local nonprofits within 200 miles of Danville. Tracy highlights the longstanding partnership with IALR and details the annual benefit banquet hosted every year at the IALR Conference Center, which gathers nearly 1,000 supporters and showcases the organization’s profound impact.

Highlights include:

• Origins and Growth of God's Pit Crew (00:45)
• Comprehensive Disaster Response Approach (02:15)
• Building Homes and Restoring Lives (07:30)
• Local Community Impact (12:20)
• Annual Benefit Banquet at IALR Conference Center (16:50)
• Volunteer Stories and Community Spirit (20:05)

To learn more about volunteering or donating, visit godspitcrew.org.

The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research serves as a regional catalyst for economic transformation in Southern Virginia. Our services, programs and offerings are diverse, impactful and far reaching.

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Caleb Ayers:

Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR. Thanks for joining us. Today we are here to highlight a special partnership we're all about partnerships here at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and also just a great organization that makes a really creative use of our conference center for their annual banquet every year. So I'm here with God's Pit Crew and we have Randy Johnson Randy, thanks for being here, Thanks for having me and also Tracy Fink, our vice president of the Institute Conference Center.

Tracy Fink:

Thank you, Caleb.

Caleb Ayers:

So to start, what is God's Pit Crew?

Randy Johnson:

Tell us a little bit about what you all do. So God's Pit Crew is a faith-based nonprofit disaster relief organization. So we go in after major natural disasters floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, whatever it may be with volunteer teams and we respond to those disasters in three different ways. We carry in tractor-trotter loads of relief supplies food, water, blessing buckets, whatever's needed and distribute that to individuals affected. Then we have an immediate response team that goes in and they work to cut trees, move debris, tarp roofs, muck out flooded homes. And then, thirdly, we have a rebuilding team that goes in and helps to rebuild families' homes that have been devastated.

Caleb Ayers:

And how did you all get started? And, at this point, how long have you all been doing this? So we're in our 26th year.

Randy Johnson:

We started in May of 1999. And you know, I occupied a church pew for a number of years as what I refer to now as a professional bench warmer and I don't want to discredit attending church, that's an important part of our Christian walk. But I just felt like there had to be more than that, but just never felt like I was smart enough, gifted enough, talented enough to do anything else. Smart enough, gifted enough, talented enough to do anything else. And I just went to the altar one Sunday night and said Lord, here I am, if you can use me, use me. And three weeks later I was in my pickup truck pulling a borrowed trailer with my family headed to Oklahoma to take supplies to tornado victims. And so one storm turned into two, two turned into three and now we have responded to 202 major disasters in 30-some states and 15 other countries.

Caleb Ayers:

And all of those operations are based here in Danville.

Randy Johnson:

They're all based here in Danville, on North Main Street.

Caleb Ayers:

And I guess you have volunteers that would come from not just here, they would come from all over the place.

Randy Johnson:

Yeah, we have over 2,000 registered volunteers now from every state in the United States and some from Canada and even some other countries. We had a couple of volunteers at the warehouse a few weeks ago from France, so it's really cool to see, you know, to see people just come from everywhere. I'd say about 40 or 50 percent of our base is within 200 or 300 miles of here, but we have volunteers from all over the country.

Caleb Ayers:

That's really cool and that makes sense, that you would have you know your base here, where you're going out from. But then if you have people in all of those different spots, wherever the storm is, you would have some people that are close or the disaster is, you would have some people that are close to that. So I know you all have been doing your annual benefit banquet here for over a decade at this point right.

Randy Johnson:

Yeah, yeah, I believe you're right, yeah.

Caleb Ayers:

So tell us a little bit about kind of what that event is and how did that event get started.

Randy Johnson:

So we actually started our benefit banquet a year after God's Pit Crew got started.

Randy Johnson:

So I think this would have been our 23rd or 24th year of doing it and, like I said, more than half of that we've done it here at the Institute.

Randy Johnson:

Of that, we've done it here at the Institute. But the benefit banquet is a way for us once a year to share stories about what happened the previous year to people who contribute already, who have been donors already or potential new donors, can actually see video footage and live testimony and and can see what what guys pit crews doing and to physically see that we are doing what we and a live testimony and can see what God's pit crew is doing and to physically see that we are doing, what we say we are doing and how we're meeting the needs of others. So we always try to bring guests in that we've helped the previous year. This year we had about 15 or 16 family members here from different families that we either helped after Hurricane Helene or that we're building or providing a new home for that was affected by Hurricane Helene. Physically. Let the people who give of their time, their talent and their treasures to God's pit crew to see firsthand what their giving is doing and how it's helping others.

Caleb Ayers:

That's really cool. I know this is one of the biggest events that we host at our conference center every year. What was the final number of attendees over the two nights this year?

Randy Johnson:

Yeah, I think we were almost 1,000 people over the two nights total. So it's pretty incredible for us, honored to think that many people would come out, but also just thrilled that we have a facility in Danville that can handle that number of people, especially in a banquet setting.

Caleb Ayers:

So for you, randy, and for you, tracy, talk about how do we bring that event to life. How does that come from? I mean, yeah, how do we go from okay, we want to have a banquet to we're serving a thousand people over two nights. How do you guys make that happen?

Randy Johnson:

Well for the Institute. I'm sure it's a lot of work and a lot of challenge for us. You know we're starting two or three months before planning and working on the whole event and working closely with you all here to try to make that happen. But you know it's almost a week's worth of setup on our part and just so so thankful that you all are so gracious and help in any way that you can make this an incredible event for us. I don't. It just wouldn't be possible for us if it wasn't for the conference center here.

Tracy Fink:

You know, we're just honored to be a part of it. Their organization does such amazing work, and so we want to be able to help any way that we can, and so, as already said, it's a week-long setup. The staff comes in and goes ahead and does all of this amazing lighting and decor each year. We're always amazed by the creativeness that they have, and then it's two days of this beautiful banquet where they share the stories, where people really get to see all the wonderful things that they do From the behind-the-scenes standpoint.

Tracy Fink:

You know, we are plating, it is a plated meal, and so we have about 500 people each day that take part in it, and it's an amazing experience. One of the things that we love from a behind-the-scenes standpoint is that, since it's God's pit crew, one of the things every year that we kind of have a competition amongst ourselves is is how fast can we get all of those plates brought to our guests that are here eating? And so we literally have a stopwatch and we time from the time the first plate goes out the door to the last person has sat, or, you know, their food is placed in front of them, and this year it was 8 minutes and 40 seconds and anybody in the hospitality knows that. You know that is an amazing time. So our staff, their volunteer staff, we work tremendously well together to be able to make sure that their guests have a wonderful experience.

Caleb Ayers:

And I think, too, this is a very from what I've seen, this banquet is very unique as far as the events that we host because God's Pit Crew you all bring in a lot of your own equipment. I think we take a lot of pride in being that. We can almost offer turnkey solutions for most events, where if an organization doesn't want to bring all their own stuff, we can supply it. But I think that's really cool that you all really deck the space out, bring in your own stuff. So talk about that. What is the setup in this room like? And right now we're sitting in the Great Hall. That's our main space that can seat about 600.

Randy Johnson:

Well, it definitely is an amazing space. Before God's Pit Crew does anything, that we do to it. And you know, with the screens you have, the sound system you have, the setup you have is just absolutely incredible. But it has grown for us over the years. So we keep challenging ourselves year after year to try to keep it fresh, try to keep it new, try to keep people wanting to come. So we do add a lot of lighting, a lot of TV cameras and we add some additional screens and over the years we've been able to accumulate extra staging and backdrops. And that's one of the fun things for us every year too, is we design, create and build our own backdrops, and so we try to keep it fresh and kind of neat.

Randy Johnson:

I think that's one of the great things for us about this space is it is so versatile that if we wanted to come in here and have an event and not bring anything, we could, anything we could. But if we're wanting to bring additional product and and stuff to make it bigger or make it the way we want it, you all have been very gracious to work with us. Um, you know, within the parameters that you can. Uh, you know, we know there are certain things that that, um, you can't do, but you all have just been so good to work with us to try to allow us to do whatever we can or want to do to make it our own event, so it's just been amazing to work together to see that happen. I don't know of any other space. Maybe I'm wrong, I shouldn't, maybe I shouldn't state it, but I don't know of any other space that would allow us the flexibility that you all have to work within parameters to make it as big and as bold as we can for our guests.

Caleb Ayers:

When you said that there are certain things you can and can't do, the first thing that popped in my mind is you can't move a wall. But then I remembered that we actually can move the walls in this space, so we can do it all.

Randy Johnson:

Well, I just wanted to be careful there to say, you know we have to understand there are certain regulations and stuff you guys have to abide by. That you know. You can't just say, oh, come, do anything you want to do. You talked in the beginning about kind of the three main things that you all do being taking supplies in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, you know, basically cleaning up and then rebuilding. Talk a little bit more about those three.

Randy Johnson:

I guess main ways that you all help in these disasters and how those kind of came about.

Randy Johnson:

Yeah, and there's actually a fourth side to God's Pit Crew. I failed to mention. But we also work regionally. Here too, around our own community and within a couple hundred mile radius, we have a distribution program where we get product donated to us by major corporations, our volunteer drivers. They go, pick that up, bring it back and then we redistribute it to other nonprofits in our region. If that's food banks, feeding programs, animal shelters, boys and girls clubs, special Olympics, fire departments, rescue squads so that's a fourth side of that. We're blessed that pretty consistently for the last number of years we've been able to distribute over $5 million worth of product to those agencies, and that's a product that's donated to us. We're just moving it.

Randy Johnson:

So the first thing we do is go in with semi loads of product. I mean people who are just absolutely devastated, who have lost everything. If you can imagine waking up in your house one morning and everything's in place. Your toothbrush is where it's always been, your toothpaste is where it's always been, you know there's food in the refrigerator there's. You know you got paper towels, you've got all those things that we use every day, that we pretty much take for granted, and by that afternoon none of that exists anymore. I mean in a matter of minutes in some cases, with a tornado or flooding, it comes so fast. With a tornado or flooding, it comes so fast. If you can get out alive with the clothes on your back, you know you're very blessed and you find yourself either in a hotel room or sitting on a cot in a school gymnasium where a shelter's been created and you don't even have a toothbrush or toothpaste or soap or shampoo or a bottle of water to drink or food to eat. That's what those initial supplies go in there for is to help sustain people who have lost everything, who have absolutely no means left to help sustain them for a short period of time until they can at least get on their feet or figure something out.

Randy Johnson:

Then the immediate response team goes in and like with Hurricane Helene, which is the most really recent big storm that's on everybody's minds, we have volunteers who will go into homes that were flooded with four, five, six foot of water in them and once that water recedes, everything in that house is soaked wet. I remember my son Jarrett shooting a video of a home in Old Fort, north Carolina, and when he stepped in the house his feet would disappear. There was so much mud left in the floor of the house after the waters receded. When he stepped on it his feet would go out of sight. We had volunteers who go in there with coal shovels and wheelbarrows and shovel all that mud out, one scoop at a time out of that home, get it outside, get all that wet furniture, cut the wet sheetrock and insulation out, dry that house out, treat it for mold, so at least it's safe for somebody to go back in and start to rebuild it. If there's a roof left but shingles are torn off or holes in a roof, our team will go in and tarp those roofs so at least it doesn't do further damage.

Randy Johnson:

We do a lot of tree work, cutting trees off of homes or out of people's yards. We are one of the only groups that has people who are certified to do high tree work. I mean, if a tree is laying right over the top of somebody's house, we have folks who are certified to go in and cut that tree one piece at a time without damaging the house further. We do full demos of homes that are beyond repair. At least we can tear them down and give people a clean slate to start over. So just in western North Carolina alone, our volunteers worked over 1,300 requests for 1,300 different families if that was cutting a tree or mucking out a flooded home or tarping a roof, so just an incredible amount of work there.

Randy Johnson:

And then our rebuilding side. Um, we either go in and rebuild what's left, if it's rebuildable, or in many cases, build brand new homes from the ground up or provide new manufactured homes. So it's three different ways, and we've committed to doing 25 new homes in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia this year, which is more than double we've ever done in a single year. So as we're sitting here talking, we have two different crews in western North Carolina right now building new homes for families so that we can present them to them very soon as you were talking, I was thinking about just the logistics of a lot of times.

Caleb Ayers:

I mean, usually there's some lead up to a storm where you know, okay, this could be bad, but in many cases you don't know how bad it's going to be. What are the logistics like of both for the immediate response and then figuring out those more long-term things? Like you said, there's crews building houses now, so like how do you figure out who's going to volunteer where and when, and what are the logistics of that like?

Randy Johnson:

yeah. So for the immediate response whether that's shipping product or our immediate response team going in. Fortunately, we've been doing this long enough. Now we have contacts literally all over the country people that are either volunteers of ours or people we know or places we've been before that when something hits we can get some pretty good real-time information on what's happened. And if we get real-time information that it's significant, then we send assessors in. We can send one or two people in to really look at it and say, yes, we're needed or no, we're not needed, because you don't want to send five semi-trucks 800 miles down the road for them to get there to find out, hey, everything's covered and we're not needed. So the first step is communication with those people that are already on the ground. Secondly is sending in one of our assessors to assess what is needed the most so we can also respond to it effectively and not send stuff that's not needed or whatever. Send stuff that's not needed or whatever and just depending on the magnitude of the storm as to what we send and how long we stay In the rebuilding process.

Randy Johnson:

Usually our immediate response team finds families in their work that they will contact me and say, hey, I think this would be a really good candidate for a house or for a rebuild.

Randy Johnson:

And we start to gather information. So there's a lot of process in choosing someone to do a home for. There's applications and all kinds of interviews and references and background checks and contracts with those people. So we try to find folks who have lost the most with the least amount of resources to rebuild back on their own, but folks who have the resources to maintain what's given to them, but folks who have the resources to maintain what's given to them. So it's not an easy choice because for every family you choose to do one for, there's ten more that needs it. But we just had to determine a long time ago. We can't let what we cannot do stop us from doing what we can. So we do all we can to make as much difference as we can and just trust and there is that there's others out there who can help meet the needs that we can't get to.

Caleb Ayers:

That's a really good philosophy and a thing to keep in your mind.

Tracy Fink:

Well, and something to talk about. Randy is very humble when it comes to what they do, having personally been through a natural disaster where I had organizations come in and help, even if they can't have their house built or anything like that. Still having that faith of people wanting to help Whether, like you know, know I know in my case, when I first was um, I was in a 520, and when I came out of the building that was destroyed, my first recollection is people coming up and here, what can we do? Can I give you water? Can I help you like? So, when you're so shell-shocked after losing everything and then having people show that they care and they're there to help, I don't think he'll ever understand or realize just how much that means to people and how much it touches them. And so that is a beautiful gift that he's giving to everybody, whether he can build them a home or is just there to hold their hand and pray with them, so it makes a huge difference.

Randy Johnson:

Yeah, I've heard a lot of folks over the years say that the ministry of presence is probably the most important thing. So just showing up, like you said, somebody showing up, um, just offering to help in any way they can it gives you hope.

Tracy Fink:

It gives you okay, we've made it through now. Now we see what our next steps are, and so, um, from my heart and for everybody else that I'm sure is listening, you know, thank you for what you guys do it. It makes a tremendous difference we're.

Randy Johnson:

We're truly blessed and honored. We get to do it so.

Caleb Ayers:

What you were saying earlier too, of you know, at least before this conversation, when I thought of God's Picker, I thought you guys, you know, I think of you guys going out on the road to these natural disasters and going to solve them but or not solve them, but going to help the people who have been impacted by them.

Caleb Ayers:

But hearing you talk about, too, that you guys are contributing right here in our community as well. And obviously, as you said, you know more of a pass through and going to pick up these donations from other place and redistributing them. But I mean those, those things matter just as much. And you know, I think back to our. Our mission statement of economic transformation is extremely broad and we do that on purpose, because we we do a lot of different things, but a lot, of, a lot of those things, I think, ultimately come back to people having the resources that they need, whether that be training and, for you all, whether that be supplies. I mean, if people don't have the resources that they need, they can't succeed, there can't be economic success. So that's really cool that you know you all are doing so much out in these other places where these disasters are happening, but also right here in our community.

Randy Johnson:

Just to tag on to that, one of the things that until maybe five or six years ago we just didn't look at it that way. But it's pretty cool to know that we are offering or providing opportunities locally for people to find purpose through volunteering. I mean, we have dozens of people at the warehouse every day giving of their time, which we couldn't do what we do without them. But some of those folks are with disabilities or are different avenues. I've had on numerous occasions, but one that really sticks out to me we have one gentleman who was in a really bad motorcycle accident, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, can't work a regular job, can't drive, can't work a regular job, can't drive, but is pretty young. And they they started volunteering with us, which we, we love.

Randy Johnson:

This guy, he, he's just the life of the party, so to speak, around the warehouse keeps everybody laughing. You know his, his family came to us at one time and said you know, you have given this individual a reason to live, you've given them a purpose outside of sitting in a house and staring at four walls. So that means a ton to us. But also when we started doing the research I know it's not massive, but we have a pretty significant impact economically in our city. Here, I mean, we buy all of our equipment, all of our trucks you know probably 60% of our fuel here having events and bringing guests in when we started really tracking that it's pretty significant, which is good, cool for us.

Randy Johnson:

I mean. We feel great about that because we want to see our community thrive and do well and obviously been able to distribute to these other agencies. We're certainly not the answer to everything they do, but it's great to help them do what they do a little bit better by providing the product to them so they can meet the needs of others. Just last week we did a food box giveaway at Martinsville Speedway. We gave away 1,000 30-pound boxes of food and 1,000 cases of Gatorade to families. So it's neat to be able to do what we do locally as well.

Caleb Ayers:

That's really cool. That's all the questions I have, I think, for anyone listening. You got your two clear. Here's what you do. Next, you go volunteer with God's Pit Crew and you host your next event here at the conference center. So anything else that you guys would want to add.

Randy Johnson:

I would agree with both of those. Yeah, sounds good. Just again, if you're thinking about wanting to do an event, we've been here 12, 13 years maybe now. I can't think of a single reason not to do an event here, so I encourage everybody. If you're looking for a place, this is an incredible venue in every way imaginable.

Tracy Fink:

We definitely appreciate that. So, for people that are interested in donating or volunteering, what is your website? Where do they go?

Randy Johnson:

It's godspitcreworg.

Caleb Ayers:

There it is Well. Thank you all for being here today. I appreciate it.

Tracy Fink:

Thank you, thank you.