More than 3,600 Colorado kids are in foster care around the state, and hundreds more await placement. The numbers of children vary from year to year, as do the specific circumstances of each child; the common thread is they come from broken backgrounds and desperately need a fresh start in a safe place.

The foster families who take them in are among Colorado’s unsung heroes. Like the kids they foster, each family has its own back story – its own special reason for reaching out and offering a new lease on life to youths looking for a home to thrive in. Their common thread is they seem to have an extra reserve of love and compassion; often, they already have raised children of their own, as well, yet want to give more.

Sunday’s Gazette featured one such family – a foster household that has given so much of itself to Colorado’s kids that it has won accolades from the state.

Stan and Cora Krol have brought in more than 130 kids – as many as 11 at a time – to their home just outside Pueblo and have raised them over a period of 34 years. At present, the Krols, now in their 70s, are hosting six children as young as 6 and as old as 14.

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The Colorado Department of Human Services recently recognized them for what they do. In an announcement marking National Foster Care Month, the department’s director called the Krols “examples of ordinary Coloradans doing something extraordinary.” As noted in The Gazette’s profile, the couple’s decades of foster service – they first were licensed in 1989 – stand out.

“Commonly, folks close their home after two years,” a foster care official with the state told The Gazette. “You’re considered an experienced foster parent after five years.”

Children come to the Krols, as to foster care in general, with wide-ranging needs – and posing daunting challenges. The Gazette’s account points out the Krols’ foster kids have committed crimes, stealing cars, and more. They’ve brought home drugs. They’ve had knives. Their mental and emotional burdens are heavy.

There also have been foster children who don’t want to fight – they want a hug. They’ve come to the Krols beaten and hungry, scared and tired. They are bullied but trying their best in school.

“You cannot have a heart and not want to do something,” Cora Krol said.

Foster children coming to the Krols’ home are greeted by 40 acres in a peaceful country setting. There’s a creek and fruit trees as well as ponies and crowing roosters nearby. Pets wander the house – it all makes for a setting that’s therapeutic for foster kids typically leaving rough lives behind. Many of them have been abused or witnessed abuse of others. They have experienced other trauma.

The Krols are giving these children new hope – as well as warm beds, wholesome meals, structure, responsibility, help with homework – you name it. It all boils down to a sense of belonging, of being loved.

And while the Krols are exemplary, many other foster families across Colorado have displayed a similar degree of dedication. We owe all of them a debt of gratitude for restoring the building block of everyone’s life – family – to kids who will be part of Colorado’s future.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board