CHARITY STORIES

$1.35M Fund Set Up For Community Care Groups To Develop Fun Activities For Seniors

Seniors can look forward to more activities to ease their loneliness and social isolation, thanks to a new $1.35 million fund that community care organisations can tap.At the launch of the fund on Friday at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel, Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) chief executive Tan Kwang Cheak said social isolation among the elderly is a key concern as it is linked with poor physical and mental health. Read Next “The current funding for the c

护联中心新设135万元基金打造更“好玩”乐龄护理

如何鼓励年长者更积极地投入社交，活出精彩的老年生活？护联中心推出新的135万元基金“FUN! Fund”，鼓励业者把“好玩”融入乐龄护理计划。配合11月1日的社区护理日，护联中心星期五（11月4日）举办社区护理领导系列，并在活动宣布推出新基金。 Read Next “FUN! Fund”由护联中心和新加坡社区基金会联合成立，致力于改善乐龄人士所面对的社交孤�

A photo of individuals wearing face masks, posing together for a group picture

Accessing Quality Education: A Boost for the Last Leg

As a follow-up to our last story, we now take a look at children as the next generation, and how we can empower them through philanthropy to be further educated.Education is the great equaliser, as the old adage goes. Coined by American public education pioneer Horace Mann in 1848, education was seen as the tool for the disadvantaged to basically find better jobs and lift themselves out of poverty. For the last almost 200 years, that has remained largely true. Read Nex

Accessing Quality Education: Beyond the Classroom Walls

The education of a generation is an extensive and complex undertaking.Consider the span of time it takes to bring a single individual from nursery and preschool, through the primary and secondary school levels to the various branches of tertiary education. This journey could range from at least 12 years to almost three decades for the dedicated academic. Read Next Keep in mind the need to cater to the individual’s development along the entire stretch in ter

How philanthropy can help tackle gender-based online harms

Technology and the Internet have made our lives better in many ways. But they are also facilitating an alarming increase in online abuse, particularly of young women. There is upskirting, where the perpetrator takes intrusive photos or videos up someone’s skirt without their permission. There is revenge porn, where explicit photos or videos of a person are posted on the Internet, typically by a former sexual partner.With the ubiquity of social media, there is flaming (insulti

How much does a Singapore household need for a basic standard of living?

In a study of household budgets by Dr Ng Kok Hoe (Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy), A/P Teo Youyenn (Nanyang Technological University), Dr Neo Yu Wei (National University of Singapore), Dr Ad Maulod (Duke-NUS), Dr Stephanie Chok and Wong Yee Lok (LKYSPP), a basic standard of living means “…more than just, housing, food, and clothing. It is about having opportunities to education, employment, and work-life balance, as well as access to healthcare. It enables a sense of

Homeless during the pandemic: how our Sayang Sayang Fund responded with agility

When Singapore locked down during the pandemic, homelessness became a visible, urgent issue. Cross-border commuters and people that had lost their housing due to irregular income or family conflict joined the rough sleepers who scrape by on the margins of our society.But with any crisis, there is an opportunity to make things better. In this instance, the authorities and social service organisations moved quickly, joining forces to provide temporary shelters. “The rapid expansi

a group of people sitting at a table with a group of children

4 Critical Educational Gaps for Disadvantaged Children & Youth in Singapore

While abilities and talents are distributed equally across the population, access to educational resources is often not. Children from low-income families are the ones who pay the price. Without the right educational opportunities, they underperform in school and end up with lower-paying jobs. Studies show that students from low-income families are more than four times as likely to be low performers than their affluent peers. (OECD, 2016) Without intervention, this cycle of i

Law firm Rajah & Tann donates $225k to ST School Pocket Money Fund and Dementia Singapore

(From left) Dementia Singapore’s chief executive Jason Foo, ST Singapore editor Zakir Hussain, Community Foundation of Singapore chief executive Catherine Loh, R&T managing partner Patrick Ang and R&T Foundation chairperson Rebecca Chew.Law firm Rajah & Tann (R&T) has contributed $225,000 to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF). Read Next The donation was part of the firm’s 45th anniversary celebration on Thursday (May 5) at

5 Critical gaps in caring for vulnerable seniors in Singapore

Singapore is fast reaching superaged status. Life expectancy is going up while the birth rate is heading south. By 2030 – not many years from where we are today – one in four Singaporeans will be 65 years or older. More worryingly, a fifth of that cohort will be over 80 (Population in Brief 2021). Ageing well and quality of life are huge concerns for our elderly. The biggest challenges centre on health: physical frailty or disability, sensory impairment such as hearing loss