GOLDEN, Colo. (KDVR) — Foothills Animal Shelter is celebrating the essential service that volunteer pet fosters provide with National Foster a Pet Month.

Fosters provide a safe place for homeless animals to prepare for adoption by overcoming fear, express their personality, recover from medical problems or trauma and open up space at a shelter to make room for other pets.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have a group of foster volunteers supporting our lifesaving work. Their dedication means we can provide temporary homes for more animals with medical or behavioral needs,” said Connie Howard, Executive Director at Foothills Animal Shelter.

Petco Love, a national nonprofit, shares foster stories and provides resources. Marketing your Foster Pet, Foster Tips & Advice and Foster Myths Debunked are some of the foster resources available online.

Fostering can be easy, highly rewarding and significantly helps end preventable euthanasia of pets, according to Petco Love.

“What they are doing is so powerful. If less than 2% of the 85-million pet owning households in the U.S. fostered one pet a year, we could eliminate preventable euthanasia in animal shelters nationwide tomorrow,” said Susanne Kogut, president of Petco Love.

“Our foster volunteers share our passion to improve the situations of our community’s animals which drives our mission daily,” Howard said. “We could not do our work without foster volunteers opening their hearts and their homes to help care for homeless pets.”

Find a foster pet at the Foothills Animal Shelter.