Local Artist Creates Special Lighthouse Ornaments for Ukraine Fundraiser

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Bill Schmidt created oyster shell ornaments painted with a blue and yellow lighthouse to raise awareness and funds for the people of Ukraine, after Russian invaded the country in February. Photo by Connie Morrison.

By Carol Vaughn —

Eastern Shore artist Bill Schmidt is known for giving away his hand-painted oyster shell ornaments, on which he typically paints red and black lighthouses, around Christmas.

Recently, Schmidt changed up his color scheme — he has been painting blue and yellow lighthouses to raise awareness and funds for the people of Ukraine.

He has made “a whole boxful” of the ornaments, likely more than 100, for a fundraising event this weekend at a Hampton restaurant owned by a friend from Ukraine.

Iryna Patterson is co-owner of Pour Girls restaurant and of a Hampton coffee shop. When she first arrived in the United States, she worked as a server at a restaurant Schmidt owned in Hampton.

Patterson arrived in the United States July 4, 2010, she said.

Patterson later started her own businesses.

“She is very popular around that area,” Schmidt said.
Patterson has family members who fled the violence in Ukraine.

When Russian forces began invading, her mother, sister, and niece, who lived in Kyiv, made the dangerous journey to the Polish border and later went to Italy.

Other relatives, including her elderly grandmother, who is in the eastern part of the country, remain in Ukraine.

Patterson said working to help organize the fundraiser is a good distraction from the ongoing stress of the war.

“Every day I was waking up thinking, is this really happening? No, there is no way — and then, it really is happening,” she said, adding that she has tried “to stay occupied and busy and positive” by getting involved with the fundraiser.

Patterson and others are hosting the fundraising event Saturday, April 2, from noon to 4 p.m., at Pour Girls, 17 E. Queens Way, in Hampton.

Schmidt’s ornaments will be among the items sold to help raise funds.

He has been making oyster shell ornaments for a dozen years now. People bring him oyster shells to use.

“Somebody brought me a whole pickup truckful,” he said.

Watching the news about the war in Ukraine every day “is terrible,” Schmidt said.
So he decided to create the blue and yellow lighthouse ornaments as a way to help raise awareness of the Ukrainian people’s plight.

For the Ukraine project in particular, “I’m trying to use the stressed shells, for a reason,” Schmidt said.

Patterson said it is sad and “kind of scary” to hear her relatives who remain in Ukraine begin to speak about the daily bombings and shootings as almost normal.

“That’s not okay. That’s not the way people should be functioning and living,” she said.

The person about whom she is most worried is her grandmother, who has been hard to contact.

“With the constant bombing, they are knocking over internet, cell towers, they are knocking down the phone towers and it’s really, really hard to get in touch with her,” Patterson said.

Saturday’s fundraiser will help organizers send supplies to the people of Ukraine, who have been under attack by Russian troops since late February.

Patterson; Alex and Heather Cormier, owners of The Local Print Shoppe; and Krystyna Bachman, a management consulting professional; together with the Tidewater Ukrainian Cultural Association and Tidewater Ukrainian School, invite people to attend Saturday’s event to support Ukrainians in the war with Russia.

There will be a Ukrainian buffet and BBQ, featuring Ukrainian music, drink specials, Ukrainian crafts, speakers, and information about Ukraine’s history, according to a press release.

Organizers at the event will be collecting essential medical and civilian items, such as cold-weather gear, sleeping bags, gloves, safety eyewear, first-aid kits, wound dressings, surgical equipment, sanitary products, flashlights, walkie talkies, and more.

The donated items will be taken to New Jersey and then shipped to Poland “to get the supplies in the hands of the Ukrainians in most need,” according to the release.

Additionally, if someone can not attend Saturday’s event but wants to contribute, monetary donations may be sent to Tidewater Ukrainian School.

“Any dime, any penny, anything helps,” Patterson said.

Send checks made payable to Tidewater Ukrainian School for Support Ukraine Fundraiser, to Tidewater Ukrainian School, 512 S. Kings Point Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23452; or donate via PayPal, [email protected]

Information about the Fundraiser for Ukraine event is on Facebook at https://fb.me/e/1NSuXPUEl

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