The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation continues to leave a legacy of caring and generosity at the University of Florida. Since 2016, the Schulze Family Foundation has provided more than $400,000 to the UF College of Dentistry to expand a comprehensive children’s oral health and education program for families with low incomes, serving more children and their caregivers in southwest Florida. The program helps increase awareness and improve access to oral health care.
Children and their families benefit from a range of highly effective preventative services to stop or slow the progression of tooth decay. Very young patients (from infants to pre-school) with a high degree of dental fear or anxiety can be treated under general anesthesia to make sure children have a positive experience at the dentist. The goal of the program is to improve lifelong oral health for every child starting at a young age.
In addition to providing comprehensive oral health to families with low incomes, the Schulze Family Foundation has provided more than $200,000 since 2019 to the UF Division of Pediatric Endocrinology for improving access to care for children with pre-diabetes and Type 1 diabetes in the Collier County, Fla., area.
With a critical need for obesity and diabetes prevention in children and adolescents, the program has identified and treated hundreds of children with diabetes who otherwise would have gone unrecognized and struggled to receive care. The program utilizes local resources, telemedicine bilingual endocrine services and collaborates with similar organizations to educate families and make effective changes to improve metabolic markers, weight and fitness.
The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation was created in 2004 by Best Buy founder, Dick Schulze, to give back to the communities where Dick and his family grew up – in Minnesota, where he built Best Buy to become the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer, and in Florida, where he now maintains a permanent residence. The Foundation embraces its founder’s vision to strengthen and support initiatives that lead to transformational change within our communities.