Governor Glenn Youngkin and First Lady Suzanne Youngkin were in Danville on Friday to present God’s Pit Crew with the Spirit of Virginia Award. The Spirit of Virginia Award was created by Suzanne Youngkin to salute Virginians for their uncommon contributions in private industries, education, culture and the arts, and philanthropy.

Since 1999, God’s Pit Crew has responded to 175 major disasters in 30 different states and 15 countries. The organization distributes over five million pounds of supplies annually to those affected by major disasters.

In the last two years God’s Pit Crew has built 16 new homes and rebuilt four homes in the last two years for those affected by natural disasters. The distribution team distributes millions of pounds of product annually to over 50 nonprofits in southside Virginia.

“Our volunteers have logged an incredible combined total of over one million hours in volunteer service, in fact they’ve logged over 200,000 hours in just the last 12 months alone. Our mission is with God’s help and direction to bring hope, healing, and restoration to hurting people in times of disaster,” said God’s Pit Crew President and Founder Randy Johnson.

Governor Youngkin praised God’s Pit Crew for the work they do and spreading the spirit of Virginia across the country.

“The work of this organization and volunteers do something that can be summed up in one word, impact,” said Youngkin, ” when you think about what someone might be going through, someone who’s lost everything that they know and love. Not just their possessions, but those things that tie them to their history. Their family pictures, those elements of their lives that give them real meaning and often times they’ve lost a family member or pet or some other part of their life that all of the sudden leaves them completely empty and that is when the pit crew must go to work to fill them back up.”