San Antonio cheesecake shop donates more than $72,000 to Ukraine’s army

Customers lined up for hours to support the cause at Laika Cheesecake

A long line outside of Laika Cheesecake on Saturday. (KSAT)

SAN ANTONIO – A Ukrainian-owned cheesecake shop in San Antonio raised thousands of dollars to donate to the country’s army, which has been under siege by Russian forces for the past week.

Laika Cheesecake and Espresso, located at 4718 Broadway, announced last week that all its sales over the weekend would go toward Ukrainian forces. Customers lined up for hours to support the cause.

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On Tuesday, Laika Cheesecake Owner Anna Afanasieva revealed that the shop raised $72,405. She plans to post receipts of the donations, she said in an Instagram post.

“This is completely mind-blowing, we have never expected this much support,” Afanasieva said. “We are very very grateful to everybody who showed up.”

Some customers showed up just to donate money. Afanasieva said roughly $25,000 of the total raised came from donors.

The cheesecake shop is not done helping the Ukrainian people, though.

Afanasieva said her shop will continue to accept donations to Ukraine, both at their store and online.

Read more about the Ukraine-Russia crisis on KSAT’s world news section.