Traditional Ukrainian bake sale to benefit traveling, delivering essential aid overseas

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Food and music are significant parts of Ukrainian culture. On Saturday, both were used to raise money and show support as the war in Ukraine approaches the three-year mark.
Our Savior Lutheran Church hosted a bake sale that featured traditional Ukrainian baked goods and desserts. Proceeds from the bake sale will benefit Knoxville-based non-profit KoloHUB, a Tennessee nonprofit whose leaders regularly travel to Ukraine to meet and deliver essential aid to Ukrainians in need.
'I think it's easy to not care because it's far away,' Nelly Ostrovsky, a Kyiv native who has lived in Johnson City for over 30 years, said. 'But I think those people who possess a capacity for deep, empathetic feelings, I do not think they can forget.'
Weapon demos and reenactments at 'State of Franklin Battle'
Rita Gregory, a native Ukrainian who has lived in Johnson City since 2012, hosted the bake sale using food to bring a bit of joy to the community.
'We gather together just [to] spread a little bit of love with all people who are really supportive and say, 'Thank you,'' Gregory said. 'Through our [love language] that is food and traditions as well.
Johnson City resident Carrie Feathers felt called to support those in need by connecting with her daughter's friend.
'When I found out my daughter's best friend was Ukrainian, I got to know Rita and the family,' said Feathers. 'It just really sent home that there are hurting people all over this world. And to support them in any way we can and just to show our love constantly is the most important thing that we can do.'
A benefit concert titled 'Voices of Hope: A Concert For Peace' brought Ukrainian music to the city. Ostrovsky said she hopes the concert shows that support is also needed within her local community.
'I just want people to remember there are still people among us,' said Ostrovsky. 'We [had] some Ukrainian students here performing today that still need help, still need support, still need care.'
Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Johnson City-based nonprofit Vols for Ukraine.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

American Press

an hour ago

• American Press

Imperial Pour fundraiser offers wine, art with a sip of culture

Imperial Calcasieu Museum's The Imperial Pour on June 27 will offer a chance to sample fine wines, examine works of art highlighting corkscrews and learn history related to Southwest Louisiana. (Special to the American Press) L ocals will have an opportunity to sip on hand-selected wines and learn some history next week at the Imperial Calcasieu Museum's The Imperial Pour. From 6-8 p.m. on June 27, ICM is offering an inaugural artful wine-tasting experience. Guests will be treated to six wine pours and pairings, curated by Ryan Kennedy, a Lake Charles-based sommelier. While sipping, they can enjoy after-hours access to the exhibitions on display at the museum: 'Through the Lines,' 'El Nuevo Constante: Shipwrecked' and 'The Conde Antique Corkscrew Collection.' 'Through the Lines' features pieces from ICM's permanent collection, which showcases foundational Louisiana artists like John James Audubon, Boyd Cruise and Angela Gregory. 'El Nuevo Constante: Shipwrecked' is a historical collection that includes recovered artifacts from a Spanish merchant vessel that sank near the coast in 1766. 'Te Conde Antique Corkscrew Collection' is a one-night-only first look at a collection of 'ornate and rare' historic corkscrews, said ICM creative specialist Anna Alamond. 'These exhibitions offer a meaningful backdrop to the evening, blending art, history and heritage in true Southwest Louisiana spirit,' she said. The Imperial Pour was conceived by a desire to share the love of art, history and community ties with Southwest Louisiana. 'We wanted to create a moment to come together, celebrate our rich cultural heritage, and raise a glass to the people who support and sustain it,' she said. Out of the more than 200 antique corkscrews that will be on display, Alamond said five standouts will be featured in a silent auction, such as a mother-of-pearl perfume corkscrew, a Civil War-era bullet mold/corkscrew combo built and 'The Surprise, a playful perpetual motion piece that lives up to its name', she said. The proceeds from the auction and the event admission support ICM's arts and humanities programming and keep the museum's mission, Alamond said. 'The Imperial Calcasieu Museum is all about shining a spotlight on local art and history, but more than that, we aim to spark passion and curiosity in the stories and artifacts we all share here in Southwest Louisiana. Through our exhibitions and programs, we want people to connect deeply with our community's culture and heritage, find something or someone who resonates deeply or connects them to another.' Tickets are $75 and limited to those 21 years and older.

Axios

5 hours ago

• Axios

Shaq's favorite Dallas spots

Shaquille O'Neal has four NBA championships and millions of dollars, but he's just like the rest of us: a proud Texan. The intrigue: The basketball legend owns property in North Texas, has a fried chicken restaurant in Fort Worth and is an investor with Mark Cuban in Austin-based BeatBox, which sells single-serve alcohol. He broke out into "Deep in the Heart of Texas" between media interviews in Irving last week. What he's saying: O'Neal says he has no gripes about Dallas-Fort Worth. "I'm from San Antonio so I'm familiar with the culture. It's spread out. I can do anything I want here — hunting, restaurants, fishing, boating, flying with my cousin who works for Irving PD," he tells Axios. Here are his favorite things in Dallas: 🍗 Favorite restaurant: Babe's and Big Chicken 🥩 Go-to order at Babe's: I always tell the chef I want the biggest chicken fried steak in Texas history. 📺 Favorite place for a night out: I'm a Netflix man right now. 🏀 Favorite Dallas sports fan base: Mavericks. A lot of memories, especially beating you guys in the (2006) Finals and my battles with the great Mark Cuban. 👀 Current Dallas bucket list item: Probably the JFK assassination site again.

New York Post

6 hours ago

• New York Post

How a street peddler fooled some of Manhattan's biggest art collectors — and killed off the city's oldest art gallery

Nestled within the mood light of the Jean-Georges restaurant at the Mark, or seated straight-back against a Turkish pillow in the Gallery at the Carlyle, the denizens of the Upper East Side float in a fish-bowl world. Scandals, like personalities, are magnified. Collisions are inevitable. Yet even today, more than 15 years after her resignation from Manhattan's eminent Knoedler gallery and the circus trial that followed, society swims away from Ann Freedman. 'She did turn heads when she walked in,' said documentary filmmaker Barry Avrich of his first encounter with Freedman over 'a few bottles of expensive Montrachet Chardonnay' at the Mark, followed by dinner at Sant Ambroeus on Madison Avenue. 'And people would talk. Nobody was rushing like the old days to see her. Obviously, that had to hurt. She was a pariah.' 12 Math teacher turned master forger, Pei Shen Qian has been accused of forging the names of abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning on at least 70 paintings. In 2016, what had been elite gossip exploded into the art fraud trial of the century. Freedman, the former president of Knoedler & Co. — Manhattan's then-oldest art gallery, founded in 1846 — was accused of facilitating the sale of $80 million in fake art. The plot, involving a pair of Long Island-based con artists and a math teacher turned master forger named Pei-Shen Qian, was audacious in ambition: Allegedly forging the names of abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning on at least 70 paintings. Everyone from museum experts and art scholars to the relatives of the artists themselves fell for it. But the case was settled before Freedman took the stand. She walked. Was she an avaricious conspirator — or merely another victim of the con, as she maintains? The mystery of her guilt will now never be settled. 12 A few of Pei Shen Qian's faked Rothkos. 12 And a real work by abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. Alamy Stock Photo But for an insular and supercilious cadre of blue-chip collectors, there is no question that Freedman is to blame for their embarrassment. Perhaps flamboyant financier Pierre Lagrange spoke for the entire neighborhood when, over drinks at the Carlyle, he allegedly screamed at Freedman: 'I will set your hair on fire!' He was displeased at discovering that the paint on the $17 million Pollock he bought from her wasn't invented until 1957 — the year after Pollock died. Avrich has now written the definitive account of Freedman's fall, and her ambiguous role in the high-culture hustle to trump them all, in 'The Devil Wears Rothko,' out Tuesday. The title references what Avrich calls Freedman's 'very steely, Anna Wintour'-like personality — belied by her rimless glasses, curly gray hair and cashmere wardrobe. 12 Ann Freedman was the director of Knoedler when the fakes came through the gallery, but has insisted she, too, was duped. AP The book is a follow-up to the author's juicy 2020 documentary 'Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art,' streaming on Netflix. ''The Devil Wears Rothko' charts the explosive demise of New York's oldest and most prestigious art gallery with detailed and salacious insight into one of the world's largest art frauds, involving an '$80 million deception that duped high-profile experts, famous collectors and museums,' Avrich writes. As The Post wrote in 2016, the fraud began in the early 1990s, when a former waiter from Spain, Jose Carlos Bergantiños Diaz, came upon a Chinese artist peddling art on a Manhattan sidewalk. Bergantiños offered to pay the man, Pei-Shen Qian, $500 per painting. 'Bergantiños would make the paintings look older with tea and dirt,' lawyer Luke Nikas, who represented Freedman, said at the time. 'Finally, he would give the art to Glafira Rosales' — his wife, who was a small-time art dealer on Long Island. 12 Before it closed in 2011, following the scandal, Knoedler was New York City's longest standing art gallery. Robert Miller But in 2003, a Pollock that originated with Rosales was deemed a fake by the nonprofit International Foundation for Art Research, leading to a $2 million refund from Knoedler to the buyer. Still, Freedman continued doing business with Rosales. In 2011, Pierre Lagrange sued the gallery over the fake Pollock after Christie's and Sotheby's turned it down for auction. A day later, Knoedler closed its doors. Rosales eventually admitted to moving more than 60 'lost' works by Rothko and others — really painted by Qian — to Knoedler and downtown art dealer Julian Weissman. In 2016, Freedman's attorney told The Post that she too was duped. 12 Domenico De Sole, seen here with wife Eleanor, was one of the high-flying Knoedler clients scammed. Getty Images 12 De Sole is the chairman of Tom Ford's brand. Getty Images But Gregory A. Clarick, a lawyer for De Sole, had doubts. 'The biggest [problem] is that . . . Rosales kept walking in [to Knoedler] with unknown works that had no documentation. This should have signaled that the works were fake,' he told The Post at the time. Avrich's book also serves as a behind-the-scenes making of his film about the case, while diving broadly into the opaque milieu of fine art dealing, the history of forgery and the increasingly high-tech fakes flooding the market. If there's a punchline to the whole affair it's that, while the seething ultra-rich collectors — like Tom Ford chairman Domenico De Sole, private-equity powerhouse John Howard, former US ambassador Nicholas Taubman, casino CEO Frank Fertitta and Lagrange — took hits to their wallets and reputations, the criminally culpable con men mostly got away with it. 12 Hedge funder Pierre Lagrange (center left) sued the gallery over a fake Jackson Pollock after Christie's and Sotheby's turned it down for auction. Greg Kahn Rosales, who peddled the fakes to Freedman, only did three months in the slammer. Bergantiños, fled to Spain, where extradition was denied. Qian fled to China. The playboy Michael Hammer — father of actor Armie Hammer — who owned Knoedler and made a fortune from the fraud, died in 2022 . 'I believe that everybody in this story was guilty of something,' Avrich told the Post. 'The art was hot, and everyone was trading on that.' Following Qian to his apartment in Shanghai, Avrich discovered a room filled with 'hundreds of paintings' leaned against the walls. 12 Glafira Rosales, a small-time Long Island dealer, pleaded guilty to selling the forged artwork. Gabriella Bass 'He claims he's only doing them for himself, he isn't selling them, but who knows,' the author said. Several galleries in China have exhibited Qian's works and, in a surprise turn, he has become a sought after artist. 'I've had dozens of people reach out to me to try and find Qian's paintings to broker them,' said Avrich. 'They say, 'I'll pay you hundreds of thousands of dollars.'' But the majority of the fake art is still with the collectors who bought it and are too humiliated to let it see the light of day. 12 'The Devil Wears Rothko' is on sale Tuesday. 'Some were seized by the FBI and marked as fakes, some were destroyed, but the rest, collectors kept,' Avrich said. 'I asked Domenico de Sole where the Rothko was, and he said, 'It's hanging on my daughter's wall.'' Rosales has had less luck trading on her ill-fame. Ordered to pay $81 million to victims of the fraud, she has seen authorities seize multiple properties, $33 million and more than 200 works of art, including authentic paintings by Sean Scully, Jules Olitski, Ellsworth Kelly and Andy Warhol. She served nine months of house arrest and three years' probation. Rosales was last seen 'working as a bus girl in a restaurant, living in a rented room, struggling to live on a minimal salary,' according to her attorney. 12 'I've had dozens of people reach out to me to try and find Qian's paintings to broker them,' said book author Barry Avrich of the alleged faker (picured). Bloomberg via Getty Images Bergantiños — who according to Avrich, got his start dealing fake beluga caviar (even selling it to auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's) — has fared better. Safe from the FBI's Art Crime Team, he agreed to meet with Avrich in his home town in Lugo, Spain, where he 'showed no remorse and blamed Rosales.' 'Before trying to sell me a harmonica that he claimed was once owned by Bob Dylan, he offered me advice on buying art: 'I would buy two or three upcoming artists and then sit on the paintings and the value will go up,'' Avrich recounted. 'He added: 'I entered the art world where many are called, but few are chosen.'' As for Freedman, she's still dealing art from a space at 25 East 73rd Street, steps from her old throne at Knoedler. 12 Rosales, who peddled the fakes to Freedman, only did three months in the slammer. REUTERS 'She's been selling art with some fervor for the last decade,' said Avrich. 'But the gallery walls are mostly covered with emerging artists and the odd secondary market blue-chip art that she is selling on behalf of someone's estate.' Although she's still a regular sight on Madison Ave., Freedman keeps a low profile. Her website is out of date, her Instagram is dead and her Facebook hasn't been updated since 2023. Still, the cracks keep on coming. 'Wonderful gallery!' begins one sarcastic Google review. 'They are all so nice! On the way out, a thin, curly, gray haired lady whispered that she could get me a Picasso for $500. I talked her down to $325! Paint was barely dry! It looks great, hanging over the cat litter box!' Nevertheless, Avrich says he's taken flak for not going even harder on Freedman. 'I screened the film for Alec Baldwin,' said Avrich of the actor who, in 2010, bought a $190,000 phony painting by Ross Bleckner from a different unscrupulous dealer. 'He yelled at me as only Alec Baldwin does, saying, 'You treat her like a schoolgirl that did something wrong during recess. You have to be tougher on her,'' Avrich recalled. 'But that wasn't my role. I wasn't making a '60 Minutes' episode, or being Michael Moore. I let her tell her story. The world can decide where things shake out. Where she sits in this is a debate that rages on.'