By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA – Maddie’s Fund, a national family foundation established by Dave and Cheryl Duffield to revolutionize the status and well-being of companion animals, has awarded Two by Two Rescue in Helena a grant to implement a Foster Community Program.

Two by Two, a no kill rescue organization, utilizes loving foster families to care for animals until they are adopted into their forever homes. Two by Two is faced with the need to increase the number of foster homes in order to affirmatively respond to the requests for animal intake. The inability to provide rescue to the growing number of stray, surrendered, and abandoned dogs and cats potentially increases the number ending up in shelters and faced with potential euthanasia.

The Foster Community Program is a comprehensive approach to fulfilling the mission of the rescue which is to give life to all abandoned, abused, stray and distressed animals without regard to age, breed, color, or medical condition and to keep pets in their homes by offering relief to people in crisis.

The five components to this program are recruitment, education, support, fulfillment and evaluation.

The goals of the Foster Community Program are to increase the number of foster caregivers by 50 percent in six months and retain 80 percent of foster caregivers by supporting them through education, resources, and a nurturing community. Work on the program will begin on Nov. 1.

Maddie’s Fund is a family foundation created in 1994 by Workday co-founder Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl, who have endowed the Foundation with more than $300 million. Since then, the foundation has awarded more than $225.7 million in grants toward increased community lifesaving, shelter management leadership, shelter medicine education and foster care across the U.S.

The Duffield’s named Maddie’s Fund after their Miniature Schnauzer Maddie, who always made them laugh and gave them much joy. Maddie was with Dave and Cheryl for 10 years and continues to inspire them today.

Maddie’s Fund is the fulfillment of a promise to an inspirational dog, investing its resources to create a no-kill nation where every dog and cat is guaranteed a healthy home or habitat.