San Antonio bakery offers more than sweet gesture to Ukraine by donating proceeds

Customers lined up by the dozens on Saturday to help

The owners say customers began lining up as early as 9 a.m., and the lines never let up. (Katrina Webber, KSAT 12 News)

SAN ANTONIO – Images of devastation in Ukraine, that for most San Antonians are a world away, hit especially close to home for Anna Afanasieva.

The native of the war-torn eastern European country has been keeping a close eye on the events unfolding in her homeland.

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“Everybody’s there. All my friends and my family are there,” she said. “It’s really hard for me to watch everything from the distance without being able to affect it in any way.”

She decided to channel those helpless feelings, though, into an effort to help.

As co-owner of Laika Cheesecake and Espresso, Afanasieva decided to donate all of Saturday’s proceeds from the Alamo Heights business to support the people of Ukraine.

Customers quickly got behind the effort, standing in long lines for a chance to chip in.

“For the Ukranian nation, just stay strong. Just keep pulling together as one nation,” said Chris Medellin, one of hundreds of people who showed up.

On Saturday evening, Afanasieva said she did not yet have an exact count when it came to sales for the day.

However, the turnout far exceeded anything she was expecting because they advertised the event only using social media.

She said customers began lining up as early as 9 a .m., and the line never let up.

Her staff, she said, had been working non-stop.

“I’m very, very grateful for all the support that we received,” Afanasieva said. “I expected that people would come and support but not in these quantities, honestly.”

Aganasieva suggested that anyone who wants to help the effort going forward should donate to the cause.

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About the Authors:

Katrina Webber joined KSAT 12 in December 2009. She reports for Good Morning San Antonio. Katrina was born and raised in Queens, NY, but after living in Gulf Coast states for the past decade, she feels right at home in Texas. It's not unusual to find her singing karaoke or leading a song with her church choir when she's not on-air.

Before starting at KSAT in August 2011, Ken was a news photographer at KENS. Before that he was a news photographer at KVDA TV in San Antonio. Ken graduated from San Antonio College with an associate's degree in Radio, TV and Film. Ken has won a Sun Coast Emmy and four Lone Star Emmys. Ken has been in the TV industry since 1994.