Ridgefield rescue fundraiser adds therapy dog yoga, pickleball and tennis

Pickleball, tennis and therapy dog yoga will share the same afternoon at Silver Spring Country Club in Ridgefield, where Ridgefield Operation for Animal Rescue will stage its Rally for the Animals on Saturday, June 6, from noon to 3 p.m. The format is unusually broad for a rescue benefit, and that is the point: instead of asking people to sign up for a yoga-only event, ROAR is building a social, all-ages fundraiser around multiple ways to show up for the same cause.

The rally will be held at 439 Silver Spring Road, with a rain date reserved for June 7. Tickets are set at $150 for pickleball or tennis, $75 for therapy dog yoga only and $40 for spectators. All tickets include a box lunch and beverages, and the pickleball and tennis play will be organized as supervised play by professional staff. Lift Health and Performance is sponsoring the event.

The yoga piece is the hook that makes the day stand out. ROAR is framing it as therapy dog yoga, with dogs mingling freely among participants rather than a more traditional class built around drills or a hard fitness push. That lowers the pressure and turns the session into something more like a shared community outing, which is exactly the kind of setting that can pull in people who might never sign up for a straight yoga fundraiser. The event also goes beyond the mat and the court with a raffle, an auction that includes 2026 U.S. Open tickets, and a pet-food collection drive, so the rescue mission stays visible the whole time.

That mission matters here. ROAR says it has spent more than 25 years as a lifeline for animals, with more than 6,000 cats and dogs finding homes through its work. Since 2000, the rescue says it has placed about 250 to 400 dogs and cats into forever homes each year. It also runs therapy dog teams that are trained and certified in-house, with dogs and owners serving schools, libraries, senior centers and other elder care facilities. Along with adoption work, ROAR operates a pet food pantry and a senior-to-senior adoption program.

Auction bidding is scheduled to close at 4 p.m. EDT on June 6, and ROAR says spots are limited. That makes the rally feel less like a standard fundraiser and more like a one-day rescue hub, with dogs, courts, yoga mats and a lunch line all feeding the same goal: keeping cats and dogs moving toward forever homes.