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Sedbergh School funds pizza van to feed thousands in Ukraine

David Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust Two young girls with pizzaDavid Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust
The van has been in the Carpathian Mountains where it has been helping to feed people there

A specially-kitted out van that cooks pizzas is helping to feed thousands of people in Ukraine after being funded by a Cumbrian community.

The vehicle, called The Wolf, was paid for through £60,000 donations in a campaign by Sedbergh School.

Run by charity Siobhan's Trust, it has travelled as far as Zaporizhzhia in south-east Ukraine, which has come under deadly Russian attack.

The school hopes to fund a support vehicle to help the team out there.

David Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust A woman serving pizzaDavid Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust
Thousands of pizzas are made in the specially-kitted out vans

The van was named The Sedbergh Wolf after the animal on the private school's emblem.

Parent Joe Mycielski had travelled to the Ukraine-Poland border a year ago and saw those who had fled being served up pizzas.

"At the beginning of the war I felt very strongly because I am half Polish - although now an adopted Cumbrian - that I had to do something," said Mr Mycielski, whose children go to Casterton Sedbergh Preparatory School, in Kirkby Lonsdale.

"I thought the idea was extraordinary. That nimble, agile ability to go to where the needs was greatest."

David Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust The community queuing for pizzaDavid Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust
Families living in the Carpathian Mountains with the Sedbergh Wolf, funded by the school and local community

He linked up the school with the charity, which saw head teacher Dan Harrison and director of sport Stuart Oliver travel to Lviv to see it in action.

Mr Oliver said while in Ukraine he saw "deep sadness" in the eyes of those displaced.

"We met an old lady who has not seen or heard from nine of her grandsons," he told BBC Radio Cumbria.

David Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust The community with the pizza vanDavid Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust
The Wolf, pictured here in the mountains where people have been sheltering, features the crest of Sedbergh School

The van also provides a centre for entertaining children with dance, football, and a pizza masterclass.

"It's incredibly humbling that it's out and it's feeding people," Mr Oliver added.

David Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust Pizzas being madeDavid Fox-Pitt/Siobhan's Trust
Pizzas are made in the van, which also hosts pizza-making masterclasses

The Scotland-based charity now has eight trucks, which have made it as far as Kharkiv and Kherson.

"None of this effort would have been possible without the wonderful donations and support from communities like Sedbergh's - so a huge thank you to all those terrific Cumbrian folk who have contributed to this extraordinary venture," said Chris McIntosh, from Siobhan's Trust.

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