Dogs roamed Pelham’s Christ Church parking lot on Oct. 6 when the church hosted an adoption event for shelter animals. The event commemorated St. Francis, the patron saint of animals.

The effort was sponsored by SPCA Westchester, a no-kill animal shelter in Briarcliff Manor. During the afternoon, attendees held and socialized with the dogs, and some were adopted. Young kids who attended played in a crate area surrounded by puppies.

“Today is St. Francis Day weekend, and this is a perfect way to do something for shelter animals,” said Carla Caroll, a frequent volunteer for the church who organized the event with the outreach team. “So far, we’ve done extremely well. We’ve already got three puppies adopted, which is huge for shelters.”

Caroll said that while she loved to see that number of puppies being adopted, she hoped to host the event again next year with more dogs of all ages.