DANVILLE, Va. – Following last year’s deadly tornadoes in Kentucky and Tennessee, Danville-based organization God’s Pit Crew jumped into action to help those affected.
This weekend, those survivors are being honored at God’s Pit Crew’s annual benefit banquet.
“It’s so meaningful and wonderful to be here. First of all, to love on all the people who support God’s Pit Crew, but also raise funds for our work responding to people in times of crisis,” said God’s Pit Crew’s director of media relations, Suzanne Boase Honeycutt.
Both Cathy Gallimore and Jordan Baize lost their homes to the tornadoes that tore through Kentucky and Tennessee in December 2021.
“We knew they were coming, the chances of storms were coming. It got real very quickly though. We had the alerts on our phones down in the basement. Just a few short minutes later, the storm came through and it was a wild couple of moments,” said Baize.
“There was no house. The wrap-around porch was gone. It was on the roof. The whole wall of that house was blown in. Every window was blown out,” said Gallimore.
After the tornadoes hit, God’s Pit Crew made the trip from Danville to the affected areas.
“These are people’s lives that have been shattered. And what God’s Pit Crew tries to do is come in and help hurting people give them hope and help them restart their lives,” said Boase Honeycutt.
Gallimore and three other families will be receiving newly built homes this year, thanks to God’s Pit Crew.
“They told me what I needed to hear at the time which was that God hadn’t forgotten about me. And in my opinion, He sent his angels to help me. The next thing he said was, ‘We are going to build you a new house,’” said Gallimore.
This weekend, Cathy, Jordan and other survivors will be recognized at God’s Pit Crew’s annual benefit banquet, the organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year. They hope to raise money so they can continue to help people, like Gallimore recover from natural disasters.
“They pick you up out of the mud. They dig you out from under the rubble and they wrap their arms around you and they do what they can to get you back on your feet. I can’t say enough about an organization that does God’s work like God’s Pit Crew does,” she said.
Learn more about God’s Pit Crew by visiting their website.