
What does philanthropy have to do with drone football?
A group of white-haired men and women, including one in a wheelchair, have clustered in a room and are focusing on plastic balls flying in the air. Inside each ball is actually a drone operated by a senior and the participants are trying to outmanoeuvre each other and get their drones into the circular goal. Although this is just a training session, there are broad smiles when someone scores and the occasional shout of “Goal!”Drone soccer is just one of the many interesting projects funded by the Community Foundation of Singapore in a collaboration with the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC). The collaboration, whimsically named the “FUN! Fund”, identifies innovative programmes to engage our seniors. While the fund was started at the tail-end of the Covid-19 pandemic to promote active ageing, today it has broadened to include programmes that could unlock new ways to battle social isolation and boost physical well-being for the longer term.