To help Riverhead Animal Shelter, local fitness studio collects food and toys, raises money with fundraising event

As the owner of a fitness studio, April Yakaboski spends a lot of time teaching people how to take care of themselves.

But she has a special place in her heart for those incapable of caring for themselves at all – animals.

For the past three years, Yakaboski has donated her downtown fitness studio and staff to an annual fundraising event for Riverhead Animal Shelter, soliciting material donations like food and bedding as well as passing on all the proceeds from the event to the shelter.

This year’s event, which was held Sunday at Aerial Fitness and Hot Yoga Studio, raised more than $2,500 for the struggling animal shelter. By the end of the day, Yakaboski had filled the entire back of a pickup truck with bags of dog food, biscuits, toys and bedding.

“This time of year it seems so silly to buy all kinds of stuff for each other,” Yakaboski said in an interview yesterday. “I would rather give it to the animals. They don’t have any means of providing for themselves.”

The event included a 90-minute class which enrolled about 30 people, many of whom had never been to Aerial Fitness before. Proceeds from the cost of the class, $40 per person, were donated directly to the animal shelter.

About a dozen local businesses and restaurants also donated prizes to a raffle for the event, ranging from a one-night stay at the Hyatt Place Hotel on East Main Street to an Apple Watch, which was donated by Riverhead Building Supply.

“The local business community is extremely generous,” Yakaboski said. “We had the most amazing donations for the raffle.”

Yakaboski first began holding fundraising events for Riverhead Animal Shelter three years ago. This year’s event was the biggest yet and raised more than any of the previous years.

“We do this every winter,” Yakaboski said. “When it gets cold out, it’s hard not to think about these animals out there in the cold.

“People are self-sufficient,” she explained. “They can provide for themselves and take care of themselves with healthy decisions and such – whereas animals rely on us to help them, feed them and shelter them.”

In addition to her annual winter fundraiser, Yakaboski runs promotions to benefit the animal shelter throughout the month of December.

“Each week we have another promotion going on, so that if you bring in donations for the animal shelter – food, towels, anything – you get a free class pass,” she said.

Riverhead Animal Shelter is currently in need of dog jackets to keep the animals warm as the temperatures drop. For the next week, anyone who brings in a dog jacket will receive a free five-class pass to Aerial Fitness and Hot Yoga – more than a $100 value, Yakaboski said.

Because this year’s winter fundraiser was such a success, the fitness studio plans to hold another event in the spring. That event will be held outdoors so that the shelter can bring along some dogs in need of a loving home and perhaps even initiate a few adoptions.

“Everyone here at the studio is an animal lover,” she said. “We just want to make sure they have everything they need.”