April 14, 2025 • 27 mins
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Caleb Ayers (00:09):
Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR.
Thanks for joining us.
Today we are here to highlighta special partnership we're all
about partnerships here at theInstitute for Advanced Learning
and Research and also just agreat organization that makes a
really creative use of ourconference center for their
annual banquet every year.
So I'm here with God's Pit Crewand we have Randy Johnson Randy
(00:31):
, thanks for being here, Thanksfor having me and also Tracy
Fink, our vice president of theInstitute Conference Center.
Tracy Fink (00:37):
Thank you, Caleb.
Caleb Ayers (00:38):
So to start, what is God's Pit Crew?
Randy Johnson (00:43):
Tell us a little bit about what you all do.
So God's Pit Crew is afaith-based nonprofit disaster
relief organization.
So we go in after major naturaldisasters floods, tornadoes,
hurricanes, wildfires, whateverit may be with volunteer teams
and we respond to thosedisasters in three different
ways.
We carry in tractor-trotterloads of relief supplies food,
(01:06):
water, blessing buckets,whatever's needed and distribute
that to individuals affected.
Then we have an immediateresponse team that goes in and
they work to cut trees, movedebris, tarp roofs, muck out
flooded homes.
And then, thirdly, we have arebuilding team that goes in and
helps to rebuild families'homes that have been devastated.
Caleb Ayers (01:28):
And how did you all get started?
And, at this point, how longhave you all been doing this?
So we're in our 26th year.
Randy Johnson (01:34):
We started in May of 1999.
And you know, I occupied achurch pew for a number of years
as what I refer to now as aprofessional bench warmer and I
don't want to discreditattending church, that's an
important part of our Christianwalk.
But I just felt like there hadto be more than that, but just
(01:58):
never felt like I was smartenough, gifted enough, talented
enough to do anything else.
Smart enough, gifted enough,talented enough to do anything
else.
And I just went to the altarone Sunday night and said Lord,
here I am, if you can use me,use me.
And three weeks later I was inmy pickup truck pulling a
borrowed trailer with my familyheaded to Oklahoma to take
(02:19):
supplies to tornado victims.
And so one storm turned intotwo, two turned into three and
now we have responded to 202major disasters in 30-some
states and 15 other countries.
Caleb Ayers (02:36):
And all of those operations are based here in
Danville.
Randy Johnson (02:38):
They're all based here in Danville, on North Main
Street.
Caleb Ayers (02:41):
And I guess you have volunteers that would come
from not just here, they wouldcome from all over the place.
Randy Johnson (02:46):
Yeah, we have over 2,000 registered volunteers
now from every state in theUnited States and some from
Canada and even some othercountries.
We had a couple of volunteersat the warehouse a few weeks ago
from France, so it's reallycool to see, you know, to see
(03:11):
people just come from everywhere.
I'd say about 40 or 50 percentof our base is within 200 or 300
miles of here, but we havevolunteers from all over the
country.
Caleb Ayers (03:21):
That's really cool and that makes sense, that you
would have you know your basehere, where you're going out
from.
But then if you have people inall of those different spots,
wherever the storm is, you wouldhave some people that are close
or the disaster is, you wouldhave some people that are close
to that.
So I know you all have beendoing your annual benefit
banquet here for over a decadeat this point right.
Randy Johnson (03:39):
Yeah, yeah, I believe you're right, yeah.
Caleb Ayers (03:42):
So tell us a little bit about kind of what that
event is and how did that eventget started.
Randy Johnson (03:47):
So we actually started our benefit banquet a
year after God's Pit Crew gotstarted.
So I think this would have beenour 23rd or 24th year of doing
it and, like I said, more thanhalf of that we've done it here
at the Institute.
Of that, we've done it here atthe Institute.
But the benefit banquet is away for us once a year to share
stories about what happened theprevious year to people who
(04:11):
contribute already, who havebeen donors already or potential
new donors, can actually seevideo footage and live testimony
and and can see what what guyspit crews doing and to
physically see that we are doingwhat we and a live testimony
and can see what God's pit crewis doing and to physically see
that we are doing, what we saywe are doing and how we're
(04:32):
meeting the needs of others.
So we always try to bringguests in that we've helped the
previous year.
This year we had about 15 or 16family members here from
different families that weeither helped after Hurricane
Helene or that we're building orproviding a new home for that
(04:54):
was affected by Hurricane Helene.
Physically.
Let the people who give oftheir time, their talent and
their treasures to God's pitcrew to see firsthand what their
giving is doing and how it'shelping others.
Caleb Ayers (05:14):
That's really cool.
I know this is one of thebiggest events that we host at
our conference center every year.
What was the final number ofattendees over the two nights
this year?
Randy Johnson (05:23):
Yeah, I think we were almost 1,000 people over
the two nights total.
So it's pretty incredible forus, honored to think that many
people would come out, but alsojust thrilled that we have a
facility in Danville that canhandle that number of people,
especially in a banquet setting.
Caleb Ayers (05:44):
So for you, randy, and for you, tracy, talk about
how do we bring that event tolife.
How does that come from?
I mean, yeah, how do we go fromokay, we want to have a banquet
to we're serving a thousandpeople over two nights.
How do you guys make thathappen?
Randy Johnson (05:57):
Well for the Institute.
I'm sure it's a lot of work anda lot of challenge for us.
You know we're starting two orthree months before planning and
working on the whole event andworking closely with you all
here to try to make that happen.
(06:17):
But you know it's almost aweek's worth of setup on our
part and just so so thankfulthat you all are so gracious and
help in any way that you canmake this an incredible event
for us.
I don't.
It just wouldn't be possiblefor us if it wasn't for the
(06:40):
conference center here.
Tracy Fink (06:42):
You know, we're just honored to be a part of it.
Their organization does suchamazing work, and so we want to
be able to help any way that wecan, and so, as already said,
it's a week-long setup.
The staff comes in and goesahead and does all of this
amazing lighting and decor eachyear.
We're always amazed by thecreativeness that they have, and
(07:05):
then it's two days of thisbeautiful banquet where they
share the stories, where peoplereally get to see all the
wonderful things that they doFrom the behind-the-scenes
standpoint.
You know, we are plating, it isa plated meal, and so we have
about 500 people each day thattake part in it, and it's an
(07:26):
amazing experience.
One of the things that we lovefrom a behind-the-scenes
standpoint is that, since it'sGod's pit crew, one of the
things every year that we kindof have a competition amongst
ourselves is is how fast can weget all of those plates brought
to our guests that are hereeating?
And so we literally have astopwatch and we time from the
(07:49):
time the first plate goes outthe door to the last person has
sat, or, you know, their food isplaced in front of them, and
this year it was 8 minutes and40 seconds and anybody in the
hospitality knows that.
You know that is an amazingtime.
So our staff, their volunteerstaff, we work tremendously well
together to be able to makesure that their guests have a
(08:11):
wonderful experience.
Caleb Ayers (08:13):
And I think, too, this is a very from what I've
seen, this banquet is veryunique as far as the events that
we host because God's Pit Crewyou all bring in a lot of your
own equipment.
I think we take a lot of pridein being that.
We can almost offer turnkeysolutions for most events, where
if an organization doesn't wantto bring all their own stuff,
we can supply it.
(08:33):
But I think that's really coolthat you all really deck the
space out, bring in your ownstuff.
So talk about that.
What is the setup in this roomlike?
And right now we're sitting inthe Great Hall.
That's our main space that canseat about 600.
Randy Johnson (08:47):
Well, it definitely is an amazing space.
Before God's Pit Crew doesanything, that we do to it.
And you know, with the screensyou have, the sound system you
have, the setup you have is justabsolutely incredible.
But it has grown for us overthe years.
So we keep challengingourselves year after year to try
(09:10):
to keep it fresh, try to keepit 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 overthe years we've been able to
accumulate extra staging andbackdrops.
(09:31):
And that's one of the funthings for us every year too, is
we design, create and build ourown backdrops, and so we try to
keep it fresh and kind of neat.
I think that's one of the greatthings for us about this space
is it is so versatile that if wewanted to come in here and have
(09:55):
an event and not bring anything, we could, anything we could.
But if we're wanting to bringadditional product and and stuff
to make it bigger or make itthe way we want it, you all have
been very gracious to work withus.
Um, you know, within theparameters that you can.
Uh, you know, we know there arecertain things that that, um,
(10:19):
you can't do, but you all havejust been so good to work with
us to try to allow us to dowhatever we can or want to do to
make it our own event, so it'sjust been amazing to work
together to see that happen.
I don't know of any other space.
(10:41):
Maybe I'm wrong, I shouldn't,maybe I shouldn't state it, but
I don't know of any other spacethat would allow us the
flexibility that you all have towork within parameters to make
it as big and as bold as we canfor our guests.
Caleb Ayers (10:59):
When you said that there are certain things you can
and can't do, the first thingthat popped in my mind is you
can't move a wall.
But then I remembered that weactually can move the walls in
this space, so we can do it all.
Randy Johnson (11:09):
Well, I just wanted to be careful there to
say, you know we have tounderstand there are certain
regulations and stuff you guyshave to abide by.
That you know.
You can't just say, oh, come,do anything you want to do.
You talked in the beginningabout kind of the three main
things that you all do beingtaking supplies in the immediate
aftermath of a disaster, youknow, basically cleaning up and
(11:29):
then rebuilding.
Talk a little bit more aboutthose three.
I guess main ways that you allhelp in these disasters and how
those kind of came about.
Yeah, and there's actually afourth side to God's Pit Crew.
I failed to mention.
But we also work regionally.
Here too, around our owncommunity and within a couple
(11:53):
hundred mile radius, we have adistribution program where we
get product donated to us bymajor corporations, our
volunteer drivers.
They go, pick that up, bring itback and then we redistribute
it to other nonprofits in ourregion.
If that's food banks, feedingprograms, animal shelters, boys
(12:13):
and girls clubs, specialOlympics, fire departments,
rescue squads so that's a fourthside of that.
We're blessed that prettyconsistently for the last number
of years we've been able todistribute over $5 million worth
of product to those agencies,and that's a product that's
(12:35):
donated to us.
We're just moving it.
So the first thing we do is goin with semi loads of product.
I mean people who are justabsolutely devastated, who have
lost everything.
If you can imagine waking up inyour house one morning and
everything's in place.
Your toothbrush is where it'salways been, your toothpaste is
(12:59):
where it's always been, you knowthere'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 wepretty much take for granted,
and by that afternoon none ofthat exists anymore.
I mean in a matter of minutesin some cases, with a tornado or
(13:21):
flooding, it comes so fast.
With a tornado or flooding, itcomes so fast.
If you can get out alive withthe clothes on your back, you
know you're very blessed and youfind yourself either in a hotel
(13:42):
room or sitting on a cot in aschool gymnasium where a
shelter's been created and youdon't even have a toothbrush or
toothpaste or soap or shampoo ora bottle of water to drink or
food to eat.
That's what those initialsupplies go in there for is to
help sustain people who havelost everything, who have
absolutely no means left to helpsustain them for a short period
(14:02):
of time until they can at leastget on their feet or figure
something out.
Then the immediate response teamgoes in and like with Hurricane
Helene, which is the mostreally recent big storm that's
on everybody's minds, we havevolunteers who will go into
homes that were flooded withfour, five, six foot of water in
(14:25):
them and once that waterrecedes, everything in that
house is soaked wet.
I remember my son Jarrettshooting a video of a home in
Old Fort, north Carolina, andwhen he stepped in the house his
feet would disappear.
There was so much mud left inthe floor of the house after the
waters receded.
(14:46):
When he stepped on it his feetwould go out of sight.
We had volunteers who go inthere with coal shovels and
wheelbarrows and shovel all thatmud out, one scoop at a time
out of that home, get it outside, get all that wet furniture,
cut the wet sheetrock andinsulation out, dry that house
out, treat it for mold, so atleast it's safe for somebody to
(15:11):
go back in and start to rebuildit.
If there's a roof left butshingles are torn off or holes
in a roof, our team will go inand tarp those roofs so at least
it doesn't do further damage.
We do a lot of tree work,cutting trees off of homes or
out of people's yards.
We are one of the only groupsthat has people who are
(15:38):
certified to do high tree work.
I mean, if a tree is layingright over the top of somebody's
house, we have folks who arecertified to go in and cut that
tree one piece at a time withoutdamaging the house further.
We do full demos of homes thatare beyond repair.
(15:58):
At least we can tear them downand give people a clean slate to
start over.
So just in western NorthCarolina alone, our volunteers
worked over 1,300 requests for1,300 different families if that
was cutting a tree or muckingout a flooded home or tarping a
(16:19):
roof, so just an incredibleamount of work there.
And then our rebuilding side.
Um, we either go in and rebuildwhat's left, if it's
rebuildable, or in many cases,build brand new homes from the
ground up or provide newmanufactured homes.
So it's three different ways,and we've committed to doing 25
(16:43):
new homes in western NorthCarolina, 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 heretalking, we have two different
crews in western North Carolinaright now building new homes for
families so that we can presentthem to them very soon as you
(17:07):
were talking, I was thinkingabout just the logistics of a
lot of times.
Caleb Ayers (17:12):
I mean, usually there's some lead up to a storm
where you know, okay, this couldbe bad, but in many cases you
don't know how bad it's going tobe.
What are the logistics like ofboth for the immediate response
and then figuring out those morelong-term things?
Like you said, there's crewsbuilding houses now, so like how
do you figure out who's goingto volunteer where and when, and
what are the logistics of thatlike?
Randy Johnson (17:32):
yeah.
So for the immediate responsewhether that's shipping product
or our immediate response teamgoing in.
Fortunately, we've been doingthis long enough.
Now we have contacts literallyall over the country people that
are either volunteers of oursor people we know or places
we've been before that whensomething hits we can get some
(17:54):
pretty good real-timeinformation on what's happened.
And if we get real-timeinformation that it's
significant, then we sendassessors in.
We can send one or two peoplein to really look at it and say,
yes, we're needed or no, we'renot needed, because you don't
(18:15):
want to send five semi-trucks800 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 iscommunication with those people
that are already on the ground.
Secondly is sending in one ofour assessors to assess what is
needed the most so we can alsorespond to it effectively and
(18:39):
not send stuff that's not neededor whatever.
Send stuff that's not needed orwhatever and just depending on
the magnitude of the storm as towhat we send and how long we
stay In the rebuilding process.
(19:00):
Usually our immediate responseteam finds families in their
work that they will contact meand say, hey, I think this would
be a really good candidate fora house or for a rebuild.
And we start to gatherinformation.
So there's a lot of process inchoosing someone to do a home
(19:20):
for.
There's applications and allkinds of interviews and
references and background checksand contracts with those people
.
So we try to find folks whohave lost the most with the
least amount of resources torebuild back on their own, but
(19:40):
folks who have the resources tomaintain what's given to them,
but folks who have the resourcesto maintain what's given to
them.
So it's not an easy choicebecause for every family you
choose to do one for, there'sten more that needs it.
But we just had to determine along time ago.
(20:06):
We can't let what we cannot dostop us from doing what we can.
So we do all we can to make asmuch difference as we can and
just trust and there is thatthere's others out there who can
help meet the needs that wecan't get to.
Caleb Ayers (20:18):
That's a really good philosophy and a thing to
keep in your mind.
Tracy Fink (20:22):
Well, and something to talk about.
Randy is very humble when itcomes to what they do, having
personally been through anatural disaster where I had
organizations come in and help,even if they can't have their
house built or anything likethat.
Still having that faith ofpeople wanting to help Whether,
(20:45):
like you know, know I know in mycase, when I first was um, I
was in a 520, and when I cameout of the building that was
destroyed, my first recollectionis people coming up and here,
what can we do?
Can I give you water?
Can I help you like?
So, when you're soshell-shocked after losing
everything and then havingpeople show that they care and
(21:05):
they're there to help, I don'tthink he'll ever understand or
realize just how much that meansto people and how much it
touches them.
And so that is a beautiful giftthat he's giving to everybody,
whether he can build them a homeor is just there to hold their
hand and pray with them, so itmakes a huge difference.
Randy Johnson (21:26):
Yeah, I've heard a lot of folks over the years
say that the ministry ofpresence is probably the most
important thing.
So just showing up, like yousaid, somebody showing up, um,
just offering to help in any waythey can it gives you hope.
Tracy Fink (21:49):
It gives you okay, we've made it through now.
Now we see what our next stepsare, and so, um, from my heart
and for everybody else that I'msure is listening, you know,
thank you for what you guys doit.
It makes a tremendousdifference we're.
Randy Johnson (22:04):
We're truly blessed and honored.
We get to do it so.
Caleb Ayers (22:08):
What you were saying earlier too, of you know,
at least before thisconversation, when I thought of
God's Picker, I thought you guys, you know, I think of you guys
going out on the road to thesenatural disasters and going to
solve them but or not solve them, but going to help the people
who have been impacted by them.
But hearing you talk about, too,that you guys are contributing
right here in our community aswell.
And obviously, as you said, youknow more of a pass through and
(22:30):
going to pick up thesedonations from other place and
redistributing them.
But I mean those, those thingsmatter just as much.
And you know, I think back toour.
Our mission statement ofeconomic transformation is
extremely broad and we do thaton purpose, because we we do a
lot of different things, but alot, of, a lot of those things,
(22:53):
I think, ultimately come back topeople having the resources
that they need, whether that betraining and, for you all,
whether that be supplies.
I mean, if people don't havethe resources that they need,
they can't succeed, there can'tbe economic success.
So that's really cool that youknow you all are doing so much
out in these other places wherethese disasters are happening,
but also right here in ourcommunity.
Randy Johnson (23:13):
Just to tag on to that, one of the things that
until maybe five or six yearsago we just didn't look at it
that way.
But it's pretty cool to knowthat we are offering or
providing opportunities locallyfor people to find purpose
(23:36):
through volunteering.
I mean, we have dozens ofpeople at the warehouse every
day giving of their time, whichwe couldn't do what we do
without them.
But some of those folks arewith disabilities or are
different avenues.
I've had on numerous occasions,but one that really sticks out
(23:59):
to me we have one gentleman whowas in a really bad motorcycle
accident, suffered a severetraumatic brain injury, can't
work a regular job, can't drive,can't work a regular job, can't
drive, but is pretty young.
(24:19):
And they they startedvolunteering with us, which we,
we love.
This guy, he, he's just the lifeof the party, so to speak,
around the warehouse keepseverybody laughing.
You know his, his family cameto us at one time and said you
know, you have given thisindividual a reason to live,
you've given them a purposeoutside of sitting in a house
and staring at four walls.
(24:40):
So that means a ton to us.
But also when we started doingthe research I know it's not
massive, but we have a prettysignificant impact economically
in our city.
Here, I mean, we buy all of ourequipment, all of our trucks
(25:01):
you know probably 60% of ourfuel here having events and
bringing guests in when westarted really tracking that
it's pretty significant, whichis good, cool for us.
I mean.
We feel great about thatbecause we want to see our
community thrive and do well andobviously been able to
(25:24):
distribute to these otheragencies.
We're certainly not the answerto everything they do, but it's
great to help them do what theydo a little bit better by
providing the product to them sothey can meet the needs of
others.
Just last week we did a foodbox giveaway at Martinsville
Speedway.
We gave away 1,000 30-poundboxes of food and 1,000 cases of
(25:50):
Gatorade to families.
So it's neat to be able to dowhat we do locally as well.
Caleb Ayers (25:58):
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 withGod's Pit Crew and you host your
next event here at theconference center.
So anything else that you guyswould want to add.
Randy Johnson (26:10):
I would agree with both of those.
Yeah, sounds good.
Just again, if you're thinkingabout wanting to do an event,
we've been here 12, 13 yearsmaybe now.
(26:31):
I can't think of a singlereason 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 (26:41):
We definitely appreciate that.
So, for people that areinterested in donating or
volunteering, what is yourwebsite?
Where do they go?
Randy Johnson (26:47):
It's godspitcreworg.
Caleb Ayers (26:49):
There it is Well.
Thank you all for being heretoday.
I appreciate it.
Tracy Fink (26:52):
Thank you, thank you .
Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR.
Thanks for joining us.
Today we are here to highlighta special partnership we're all
about partnerships here at theInstitute for Advanced Learning
and Research and also just agreat organization that makes a
really creative use of ourconference center for their
annual banquet every year.
So I'm here with God's Pit Crewand we have Randy Johnson Randy
(00:31):
, thanks for being here, Thanksfor having me and also Tracy
Fink, our vice president of theInstitute Conference Center.
Tracy Fink (00:37):
Thank you, Caleb.
Caleb Ayers (00:38):
So to start, what is God's Pit Crew?
Randy Johnson (00:43):
Tell us a little bit about what you all do.
So God's Pit Crew is afaith-based nonprofit disaster
relief organization.
So we go in after major naturaldisasters floods, tornadoes,
hurricanes, wildfires, whateverit may be with volunteer teams
and we respond to thosedisasters in three different
ways.
We carry in tractor-trotterloads of relief supplies food,
(01:06):
water, blessing buckets,whatever's needed and distribute
that to individuals affected.
Then we have an immediateresponse team that goes in and
they work to cut trees, movedebris, tarp roofs, muck out
flooded homes.
And then, thirdly, we have arebuilding team that goes in and
helps to rebuild families'homes that have been devastated.
Caleb Ayers (01:28):
And how did you all get started?
And, at this point, how longhave you all been doing this?
So we're in our 26th year.
Randy Johnson (01:34):
We started in May of 1999.
And you know, I occupied achurch pew for a number of years
as what I refer to now as aprofessional bench warmer and I
don't want to discreditattending church, that's an
important part of our Christianwalk.
But I just felt like there hadto be more than that, but just
(01:58):
never felt like I was smartenough, gifted enough, talented
enough to do anything else.
Smart enough, gifted enough,talented enough to do anything
else.
And I just went to the altarone Sunday night and said Lord,
here I am, if you can use me,use me.
And three weeks later I was inmy pickup truck pulling a
borrowed trailer with my familyheaded to Oklahoma to take
(02:19):
supplies to tornado victims.
And so one storm turned intotwo, two turned into three and
now we have responded to 202major disasters in 30-some
states and 15 other countries.
Caleb Ayers (02:36):
And all of those operations are based here in
Danville.
Randy Johnson (02:38):
They're all based here in Danville, on North Main
Street.
Caleb Ayers (02:41):
And I guess you have volunteers that would come
from not just here, they wouldcome from all over the place.
Randy Johnson (02:46):
Yeah, we have over 2,000 registered volunteers
now from every state in theUnited States and some from
Canada and even some othercountries.
We had a couple of volunteersat the warehouse a few weeks ago
from France, so it's reallycool to see, you know, to see
(03:11):
people just come from everywhere.
I'd say about 40 or 50 percentof our base is within 200 or 300
miles of here, but we havevolunteers from all over the
country.
Caleb Ayers (03:21):
That's really cool and that makes sense, that you
would have you know your basehere, where you're going out
from.
But then if you have people inall of those different spots,
wherever the storm is, you wouldhave some people that are close
or the disaster is, you wouldhave some people that are close
to that.
So I know you all have beendoing your annual benefit
banquet here for over a decadeat this point right.
Randy Johnson (03:39):
Yeah, yeah, I believe you're right, yeah.
Caleb Ayers (03:42):
So tell us a little bit about kind of what that
event is and how did that eventget started.
Randy Johnson (03:47):
So we actually started our benefit banquet a
year after God's Pit Crew gotstarted.
So I think this would have beenour 23rd or 24th year of doing
it and, like I said, more thanhalf of that we've done it here
at the Institute.
Of that, we've done it here atthe Institute.
But the benefit banquet is away for us once a year to share
stories about what happened theprevious year to people who
(04:11):
contribute already, who havebeen donors already or potential
new donors, can actually seevideo footage and live testimony
and and can see what what guyspit crews doing and to
physically see that we are doingwhat we and a live testimony
and can see what God's pit crewis doing and to physically see
that we are doing, what we saywe are doing and how we're
(04:32):
meeting the needs of others.
So we always try to bringguests in that we've helped the
previous year.
This year we had about 15 or 16family members here from
different families that weeither helped after Hurricane
Helene or that we're building orproviding a new home for that
(04:54):
was affected by Hurricane Helene.
Physically.
Let the people who give oftheir time, their talent and
their treasures to God's pitcrew to see firsthand what their
giving is doing and how it'shelping others.
Caleb Ayers (05:14):
That's really cool.
I know this is one of thebiggest events that we host at
our conference center every year.
What was the final number ofattendees over the two nights
this year?
Randy Johnson (05:23):
Yeah, I think we were almost 1,000 people over
the two nights total.
So it's pretty incredible forus, honored to think that many
people would come out, but alsojust thrilled that we have a
facility in Danville that canhandle that number of people,
especially in a banquet setting.
Caleb Ayers (05:44):
So for you, randy, and for you, tracy, talk about
how do we bring that event tolife.
How does that come from?
I mean, yeah, how do we go fromokay, we want to have a banquet
to we're serving a thousandpeople over two nights.
How do you guys make thathappen?
Randy Johnson (05:57):
Well for the Institute.
I'm sure it's a lot of work anda lot of challenge for us.
You know we're starting two orthree months before planning and
working on the whole event andworking closely with you all
here to try to make that happen.
(06:17):
But you know it's almost aweek's worth of setup on our
part and just so so thankfulthat you all are so gracious and
help in any way that you canmake this an incredible event
for us.
I don't.
It just wouldn't be possiblefor us if it wasn't for the
(06:40):
conference center here.
Tracy Fink (06:42):
You know, we're just honored to be a part of it.
Their organization does suchamazing work, and so we want to
be able to help any way that wecan, and so, as already said,
it's a week-long setup.
The staff comes in and goesahead and does all of this
amazing lighting and decor eachyear.
We're always amazed by thecreativeness that they have, and
(07:05):
then it's two days of thisbeautiful banquet where they
share the stories, where peoplereally get to see all the
wonderful things that they doFrom the behind-the-scenes
standpoint.
You know, we are plating, it isa plated meal, and so we have
about 500 people each day thattake part in it, and it's an
(07:26):
amazing experience.
One of the things that we lovefrom a behind-the-scenes
standpoint is that, since it'sGod's pit crew, one of the
things every year that we kindof have a competition amongst
ourselves is is how fast can weget all of those plates brought
to our guests that are hereeating?
And so we literally have astopwatch and we time from the
(07:49):
time the first plate goes outthe door to the last person has
sat, or, you know, their food isplaced in front of them, and
this year it was 8 minutes and40 seconds and anybody in the
hospitality knows that.
You know that is an amazingtime.
So our staff, their volunteerstaff, we work tremendously well
together to be able to makesure that their guests have a
(08:11):
wonderful experience.
Caleb Ayers (08:13):
And I think, too, this is a very from what I've
seen, this banquet is veryunique as far as the events that
we host because God's Pit Crewyou all bring in a lot of your
own equipment.
I think we take a lot of pridein being that.
We can almost offer turnkeysolutions for most events, where
if an organization doesn't wantto bring all their own stuff,
we can supply it.
(08:33):
But I think that's really coolthat you all really deck the
space out, bring in your ownstuff.
So talk about that.
What is the setup in this roomlike?
And right now we're sitting inthe Great Hall.
That's our main space that canseat about 600.
Randy Johnson (08:47):
Well, it definitely is an amazing space.
Before God's Pit Crew doesanything, that we do to it.
And you know, with the screensyou have, the sound system you
have, the setup you have is justabsolutely incredible.
But it has grown for us overthe years.
So we keep challengingourselves year after year to try
(09:10):
to keep it fresh, try to keepit 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 overthe years we've been able to
accumulate extra staging andbackdrops.
(09:31):
And that's one of the funthings for us every year too, is
we design, create and build ourown backdrops, and so we try to
keep it fresh and kind of neat.
I think that's one of the greatthings for us about this space
is it is so versatile that if wewanted to come in here and have
(09:55):
an event and not bring anything, we could, anything we could.
But if we're wanting to bringadditional product and and stuff
to make it bigger or make itthe way we want it, you all have
been very gracious to work withus.
Um, you know, within theparameters that you can.
Uh, you know, we know there arecertain things that that, um,
(10:19):
you can't do, but you all havejust been so good to work with
us to try to allow us to dowhatever we can or want to do to
make it our own event, so it'sjust been amazing to work
together to see that happen.
I don't know of any other space.
(10:41):
Maybe I'm wrong, I shouldn't,maybe I shouldn't state it, but
I don't know of any other spacethat would allow us the
flexibility that you all have towork within parameters to make
it as big and as bold as we canfor our guests.
Caleb Ayers (10:59):
When you said that there are certain things you can
and can't do, the first thingthat popped in my mind is you
can't move a wall.
But then I remembered that weactually can move the walls in
this space, so we can do it all.
Randy Johnson (11:09):
Well, I just wanted to be careful there to
say, you know we have tounderstand there are certain
regulations and stuff you guyshave to abide by.
That you know.
You can't just say, oh, come,do anything you want to do.
You talked in the beginningabout kind of the three main
things that you all do beingtaking supplies in the immediate
aftermath of a disaster, youknow, basically cleaning up and
(11:29):
then rebuilding.
Talk a little bit more aboutthose three.
I guess main ways that you allhelp in these disasters and how
those kind of came about.
Yeah, and there's actually afourth side to God's Pit Crew.
I failed to mention.
But we also work regionally.
Here too, around our owncommunity and within a couple
(11:53):
hundred mile radius, we have adistribution program where we
get product donated to us bymajor corporations, our
volunteer drivers.
They go, pick that up, bring itback and then we redistribute
it to other nonprofits in ourregion.
If that's food banks, feedingprograms, animal shelters, boys
(12:13):
and girls clubs, specialOlympics, fire departments,
rescue squads so that's a fourthside of that.
We're blessed that prettyconsistently for the last number
of years we've been able todistribute over $5 million worth
of product to those agencies,and that's a product that's
(12:35):
donated to us.
We're just moving it.
So the first thing we do is goin with semi loads of product.
I mean people who are justabsolutely devastated, who have
lost everything.
If you can imagine waking up inyour house one morning and
everything's in place.
Your toothbrush is where it'salways been, your toothpaste is
(12:59):
where it's always been, you knowthere'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 wepretty much take for granted,
and by that afternoon none ofthat exists anymore.
I mean in a matter of minutesin some cases, with a tornado or
(13:21):
flooding, it comes so fast.
With a tornado or flooding, itcomes so fast.
If you can get out alive withthe clothes on your back, you
know you're very blessed and youfind yourself either in a hotel
(13:42):
room or sitting on a cot in aschool gymnasium where a
shelter's been created and youdon't even have a toothbrush or
toothpaste or soap or shampoo ora bottle of water to drink or
food to eat.
That's what those initialsupplies go in there for is to
help sustain people who havelost everything, who have
absolutely no means left to helpsustain them for a short period
(14:02):
of time until they can at leastget on their feet or figure
something out.
Then the immediate response teamgoes in and like with Hurricane
Helene, which is the mostreally recent big storm that's
on everybody's minds, we havevolunteers who will go into
homes that were flooded withfour, five, six foot of water in
(14:25):
them and once that waterrecedes, everything in that
house is soaked wet.
I remember my son Jarrettshooting a video of a home in
Old Fort, north Carolina, andwhen he stepped in the house his
feet would disappear.
There was so much mud left inthe floor of the house after the
waters receded.
(14:46):
When he stepped on it his feetwould go out of sight.
We had volunteers who go inthere with coal shovels and
wheelbarrows and shovel all thatmud out, one scoop at a time
out of that home, get it outside, get all that wet furniture,
cut the wet sheetrock andinsulation out, dry that house
out, treat it for mold, so atleast it's safe for somebody to
(15:11):
go back in and start to rebuildit.
If there's a roof left butshingles are torn off or holes
in a roof, our team will go inand tarp those roofs so at least
it doesn't do further damage.
We do a lot of tree work,cutting trees off of homes or
out of people's yards.
We are one of the only groupsthat has people who are
(15:38):
certified to do high tree work.
I mean, if a tree is layingright over the top of somebody's
house, we have folks who arecertified to go in and cut that
tree one piece at a time withoutdamaging the house further.
We do full demos of homes thatare beyond repair.
(15:58):
At least we can tear them downand give people a clean slate to
start over.
So just in western NorthCarolina alone, our volunteers
worked over 1,300 requests for1,300 different families if that
was cutting a tree or muckingout a flooded home or tarping a
(16:19):
roof, so just an incredibleamount of work there.
And then our rebuilding side.
Um, we either go in and rebuildwhat's left, if it's
rebuildable, or in many cases,build brand new homes from the
ground up or provide newmanufactured homes.
So it's three different ways,and we've committed to doing 25
(16:43):
new homes in western NorthCarolina, 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 heretalking, we have two different
crews in western North Carolinaright now building new homes for
families so that we can presentthem to them very soon as you
(17:07):
were talking, I was thinkingabout just the logistics of a
lot of times.
Caleb Ayers (17:12):
I mean, usually there's some lead up to a storm
where you know, okay, this couldbe bad, but in many cases you
don't know how bad it's going tobe.
What are the logistics like ofboth for the immediate response
and then figuring out those morelong-term things?
Like you said, there's crewsbuilding houses now, so like how
do you figure out who's goingto volunteer where and when, and
what are the logistics of thatlike?
Randy Johnson (17:32):
yeah.
So for the immediate responsewhether that's shipping product
or our immediate response teamgoing in.
Fortunately, we've been doingthis long enough.
Now we have contacts literallyall over the country people that
are either volunteers of oursor people we know or places
we've been before that whensomething hits we can get some
(17:54):
pretty good real-timeinformation on what's happened.
And if we get real-timeinformation that it's
significant, then we sendassessors in.
We can send one or two peoplein to really look at it and say,
yes, we're needed or no, we'renot needed, because you don't
(18:15):
want to send five semi-trucks800 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 iscommunication with those people
that are already on the ground.
Secondly is sending in one ofour assessors to assess what is
needed the most so we can alsorespond to it effectively and
(18:39):
not send stuff that's not neededor whatever.
Send stuff that's not needed orwhatever and just depending on
the magnitude of the storm as towhat we send and how long we
stay In the rebuilding process.
(19:00):
Usually our immediate responseteam finds families in their
work that they will contact meand say, hey, I think this would
be a really good candidate fora house or for a rebuild.
And we start to gatherinformation.
So there's a lot of process inchoosing someone to do a home
(19:20):
for.
There's applications and allkinds of interviews and
references and background checksand contracts with those people
.
So we try to find folks whohave lost the most with the
least amount of resources torebuild back on their own, but
(19:40):
folks who have the resources tomaintain what's given to them,
but folks who have the resourcesto maintain what's given to
them.
So it's not an easy choicebecause for every family you
choose to do one for, there'sten more that needs it.
But we just had to determine along time ago.
(20:06):
We can't let what we cannot dostop us from doing what we can.
So we do all we can to make asmuch difference as we can and
just trust and there is thatthere's others out there who can
help meet the needs that wecan't get to.
Caleb Ayers (20:18):
That's a really good philosophy and a thing to
keep in your mind.
Tracy Fink (20:22):
Well, and something to talk about.
Randy is very humble when itcomes to what they do, having
personally been through anatural disaster where I had
organizations come in and help,even if they can't have their
house built or anything likethat.
Still having that faith ofpeople wanting to help Whether,
(20:45):
like you know, know I know in mycase, when I first was um, I
was in a 520, and when I cameout of the building that was
destroyed, my first recollectionis people coming up and here,
what can we do?
Can I give you water?
Can I help you like?
So, when you're soshell-shocked after losing
everything and then havingpeople show that they care and
(21:05):
they're there to help, I don'tthink he'll ever understand or
realize just how much that meansto people and how much it
touches them.
And so that is a beautiful giftthat he's giving to everybody,
whether he can build them a homeor is just there to hold their
hand and pray with them, so itmakes a huge difference.
Randy Johnson (21:26):
Yeah, I've heard a lot of folks over the years
say that the ministry ofpresence is probably the most
important thing.
So just showing up, like yousaid, somebody showing up, um,
just offering to help in any waythey can it gives you hope.
Tracy Fink (21:49):
It gives you okay, we've made it through now.
Now we see what our next stepsare, and so, um, from my heart
and for everybody else that I'msure is listening, you know,
thank you for what you guys doit.
It makes a tremendousdifference we're.
Randy Johnson (22:04):
We're truly blessed and honored.
We get to do it so.
Caleb Ayers (22:08):
What you were saying earlier too, of you know,
at least before thisconversation, when I thought of
God's Picker, I thought you guys, you know, I think of you guys
going out on the road to thesenatural disasters and going to
solve them but or not solve them, but going to help the people
who have been impacted by them.
But hearing you talk about, too,that you guys are contributing
right here in our community aswell.
And obviously, as you said, youknow more of a pass through and
(22:30):
going to pick up thesedonations from other place and
redistributing them.
But I mean those, those thingsmatter just as much.
And you know, I think back toour.
Our mission statement ofeconomic transformation is
extremely broad and we do thaton purpose, because we we do a
lot of different things, but alot, of, a lot of those things,
(22:53):
I think, ultimately come back topeople having the resources
that they need, whether that betraining and, for you all,
whether that be supplies.
I mean, if people don't havethe resources that they need,
they can't succeed, there can'tbe economic success.
So that's really cool that youknow you all are doing so much
out in these other places wherethese disasters are happening,
but also right here in ourcommunity.
Randy Johnson (23:13):
Just to tag on to that, one of the things that
until maybe five or six yearsago we just didn't look at it
that way.
But it's pretty cool to knowthat we are offering or
providing opportunities locallyfor people to find purpose
(23:36):
through volunteering.
I mean, we have dozens ofpeople at the warehouse every
day giving of their time, whichwe couldn't do what we do
without them.
But some of those folks arewith disabilities or are
different avenues.
I've had on numerous occasions,but one that really sticks out
(23:59):
to me we have one gentleman whowas in a really bad motorcycle
accident, suffered a severetraumatic brain injury, can't
work a regular job, can't drive,can't work a regular job, can't
drive, but is pretty young.
(24:19):
And they they startedvolunteering with us, which we,
we love.
This guy, he, he's just the lifeof the party, so to speak,
around the warehouse keepseverybody laughing.
You know his, his family cameto us at one time and said you
know, you have given thisindividual a reason to live,
you've given them a purposeoutside of sitting in a house
and staring at four walls.
(24:40):
So that means a ton to us.
But also when we started doingthe research I know it's not
massive, but we have a prettysignificant impact economically
in our city.
Here, I mean, we buy all of ourequipment, all of our trucks
(25:01):
you know probably 60% of ourfuel here having events and
bringing guests in when westarted really tracking that
it's pretty significant, whichis good, cool for us.
I mean.
We feel great about thatbecause we want to see our
community thrive and do well andobviously been able to
(25:24):
distribute to these otheragencies.
We're certainly not the answerto everything they do, but it's
great to help them do what theydo a little bit better by
providing the product to them sothey can meet the needs of
others.
Just last week we did a foodbox giveaway at Martinsville
Speedway.
We gave away 1,000 30-poundboxes of food and 1,000 cases of
(25:50):
Gatorade to families.
So it's neat to be able to dowhat we do locally as well.
Caleb Ayers (25:58):
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 withGod's Pit Crew and you host your
next event here at theconference center.
So anything else that you guyswould want to add.
Randy Johnson (26:10):
I would agree with both of those.
Yeah, sounds good.
Just again, if you're thinkingabout wanting to do an event,
we've been here 12, 13 yearsmaybe now.
(26:31):
I can't think of a singlereason 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 (26:41):
We definitely appreciate that.
So, for people that areinterested in donating or
volunteering, what is yourwebsite?
Where do they go?
Randy Johnson (26:47):
It's godspitcreworg.
Caleb Ayers (26:49):
There it is Well.
Thank you all for being heretoday.
I appreciate it.
Tracy Fink (26:52):
Thank you, thank you .
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