RICHARD M. SCHULZE FAMILY FOUNDATION provides GRANT FOR DIABETES MEDICAL SUPPLIES & SERVICES

HELP A DIABETIC CHILD RECEIVES RICHARD M. SCHULZE FAMILY FOUNDATION GRANT FOR DIABETES MEDICAL SUPPLIES & SERVICES

Help A Diabetic Child (HADC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting underserved, uninsured and underinsured children and young adults who live with diabetes and struggle financially, announced that it has been awarded a $23,000 grant from the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. This grant will benefit local families in securing necessary life-saving insulin, diabetes medical supplies and services.

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is a chronic (life-long) autoimmune disease in which the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to naturally regulate the body’s blood sugar, leaving diagnosed individuals with a life-long dependency on costly medical insulin. Without daily insulin injections and blood sugar monitoring, a child can only survive a few days.

“We are thankful to the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation for their continued support of those with a life-long dependency on costly medical insulin,” said Tami Balavage, Founder/President for HADC. “This grant will help ensure that children and young adults in our community receive the care they need without financial obstacles.”

The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation was created in 2004 by Best Buy founder Dick Schulze to “support transformational change for the benefit of mankind.” The Foundation has consistently directed its primary efforts and resources toward matters of importance in human and social services, education, and health and medicine with a geographic emphasis on the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and Collier and Lee counties.

Help A Diabetic Child supports underserved children, young adults and their families in Florida and Pennsylvania who live with Type 1 diabetes and cannot afford insulin, diabetes medical supplies and medical services. It was founded in Naples in 2010 by Balavage after her 16-year-old son was diagnosed with the disease. It quickly became evident that there was a significant number of children who were unable to get adequate medical supplies for blood glucose testing and insulin injections, which must be done multiple times daily.

Statistics show that the number of Americans with diabetes continues to rise at alarming rates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11.6 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes, or about 38.4 million people. Of these, roughly 29.7 million have been diagnosed with the condition, and another 8.7 million are unaware they have it.

Diagnosed cases of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are surging among youth in the United States. From 2001 to 2019, the number of people under age 20 living with Type 1 diabetes rose 45 percent and the number living with Type 2 diabetes grew by 95 percent.

For additional information or to support HADC’s mission of providing life-saving supplies and services, please call 239-821-5051 or visit www.helpadiabeticchild.org.