Perthshire 's David Fox-Pitt was awarded an MBE in 2019 before anyone had considered there would be war in Ukraine.
If the Wildfox Events director deserved it then – for services to the adventure challenge industry and charity - he has earned the honour tenfold for what he has done in the last eight months.
As a trustee for Siobhan’s Trust, a Scottish charity set up in 2020 in memory of his late aunt Siobhan Dundee, David has been the hands-on driving force for a remarkable ongoing gift to the Ukrainian people.
Within days of Putin's invasion of Ukraine in March this year, David set off from home at Ardtalnaig, South Loch Tay, leaving his family for an unknown period of time on a mission to take food to people fleeing Ukraine.
The father-of-three, organised a rendezvous in Aberfeldy where he took on three friends to drive a Land Rover and trailer, a portable pizza oven and a Unimog ex-army vehicle stuffed with donations from Perthshire across Europe to the border of Poland and Ukraine.
They pitched up at the border town of Medyka in Poland where people were streaming out of Ukraine to escape air strikes and artillery.
In the weeks that followed, David established and manned a round-the-clock field kitchen and set to creating a supply structure that kept the pizza coming.
At that time miles-long queues of women, children and the elderly were waiting to enter Poland in freezing temperatures.
Subzero winter lasted well into April. The Siobhan's Trust volunteers bedded down in tents and vehicles, living each day as it came.
Soon David was joined by Harry Scrymgeour, son of Siobhan Dundee in whose memory the trust was originally founded. Harry has become a key member of the team in Ukraine.
And with the setting up of TASH4Ukraine – Tayside and Strathearn Help for Ukraine – fundraising and aid from Perthshire and beyond was established to make David’s Siobhan's Trust mission sustainable.
Today he is still out there with Siobhan's Trust, taking care of a scaled-up operation that feeds and cheers 4000 people a day.
On any given day, six of the trust’s vehicles move around Ukraine, playing music, pitching up in city parks and village car parks, with David at the helm in a kilt of blue and yellow tartan, making sure hot pizza, coffee and sweets bring a moment of contentment to cold and hungry people.
Recently they have been handing out ‘goodie boxes’ filled with essentials.
As the leaves flutter away and the chill wind blows, the latest promise he has given is that Siobhan’s Trust will see out the Ukrainian winter.
David’s wife Jo recently spoke about the ‘Goldilocks’ nature of Siobhan’s Trust: “Whereas larger charities and NGOs must by their nature follow time-consuming and costly procedure, Siobhan’s Trust had the agility to act first and act fast.
“David and his team were able to respond to the horror of unfolding events in a way that touched hearts simply by being there giving a warm meal and a kind word to all those that passed.
“Since March the charity has evolved in response to the changing face of the war.
“The volunteers who hale from as far afield as Zimbabwe, USA and Australia are an amazing bunch. Many originally came for a few days but have stayed many weeks to help.
“The tight team now have a small fleet of trucks fitted with gas-fired pizza ovens. Their attention has turned to the internally displaced people who are struggling within Ukraine.
“The cold weather is a huge concern, many are living in bombed-out buildings with no water, electricity or gas, a bleak prospect for many months to come.”
As Jo described, volunteers came and went and the vehicle fleet enlarged.
The made-from-scratch pizza dough model was advanced so that frozen bases could be used for quicker cooking and distribution but the message was the same: #makepizzanotwar @siobhanstrust #keepontruckin #keepongiving #tash4ukraine
David periodically returns to Scotland to honour business commitments as his day job is running WildFox Events, arranging mass charity challenges with his wife Jo who is holding the fort in Perthshire.
When he was back in July he picked up two unique kilts. In a salute to the Ukrainian people, David’s kilt and the one he brought to his wingman, Ukraine-based Tom Hughes, were woven of blue and yellow, colours to raise the spirits of weary citizens and to demonstrate a heartfelt connection. Paired with a splendid sporran, David’s trademark get-up was bottom half kilted Scotsman, top half traditional Ukrainian cloth shirt.
“Our kilts are a great way to break the ice, to make people smile. The onlookers are momentarily disarmed and with a wonderful sense of warmth and charm which needs no translation, the food is served.”
Heading back to the war zone, David also briefly took his 17 year-old eldest child Sacha out to be a part in the mercy pizza project.
He was back in Scotland again at Blair Castle Horse Trials in August rattling the bucket for TASH4Ukraine to help get a forklift truck out to an aid depot in Ukraine.
“An amazing lady from Bucha turned up for a chat just now. Emotional,” he wrote on Instagram.
David was in Glencarse on November 4 to give a presentation about the work of Siobhan’s Trust in Ukraine.
As winter approaches he returns to his travelling existence. He has a sleeping bag in the food truck and he may put on a coat now, but the bare-legged kilt uniform from the summer remains.
“Lifting the spirits of every single displaced person we serve is what we aim to do,” he said to the PA this week. “When we arrive in a town, there is an instant atmosphere similar to how it would be if a carnival drew into town.”
Jo Fox-Pitt added: “In a way David is like the Greatest Showman, a little bit of magic happens. The nervous population slowly ventures out, curiosity has got the better of them.
“Then the music starts, and the cooking commences, David or one of his team might spring into action and start singing or doing a jig or kicking a football into the crowd.”
David continued to explain the situation that is repeated every day when he is away: “The Ukrainian people are determined. They live with sirens, sleepless nights, bombed out apartment blocks.
“But when they learn what we intend to do that day, they come out.
“They smile. They have a moment when they know the world is watching still and the world cares.”
The mobile crew have headed east and north, catering in Zaporizhia, by the Russian frontline in Kharkiv, Urpin, Izum, and Bucha.
“The more east you go, the more desperate people are. Putin is busy trying to knock out the grid. It’s a worry, how to get through winter, but we plan to keep on, stay focused till April.”
In a video post he pointed to the volunteers chopping salami and loading pizza toppings: “Here’s Camille from France, in his fifth week helping. There’s Anna and Lily from America and Orla from Ukraine.”
Focused on team not self, David pointed out the exceptional souls who make the effort happen.
“Loyal Tom Hughes has been nicknamed ‘Lawrence of Ukraine’. Another key team member is Audrey McAlpine. Jenni from Uganda is a sensation in mainly all-white Ukraine.”
In the talk he gave at Glencarse Church last week, David emphasised the need to keep fundraising to make sure the project does not fold during the winter.
“We need to keep fundraising for Siobhan’s Trust as winter will arrive before long which will make the situation even more challenging.
“These people did not ask for the war. Our hardships in the UK this winter will be nothing compared to theirs. Eight million people have been displaced.”
He suggested there were three main costs to meet: buying in pizzas and food, the gas canisters to work the ovens and fuel for the transporters.
He costed each handout pizza at roughly £1 all things considered.
They get through around 4000 a day. They fed 6000 people in a day when they were in Lviv.
Siobhan’s Trust will continue operating for as long as the funds allow. They are working alongside the Ukrainian authorities who help give them access to where their love and pizza is most needed.
David concluded: “It is a simple act of kindness.
“But it is one that is giving hope to thousands of Ukrainians every day when they see that there are people like the team of
Siobhan’s Trust standing with them at this crisis point in all our lives.
“The war is raging, the world is forgetting, and we must not forget.”
Please follow the team’s work @siobhanstrust www.siobhanstrust.uk #makepizzanotwar and donate if you can.
