By Ang Yi Ying
TEMASEK Cares, a charity set up last year and funded by Temasek Holdings with a $100 million endowment, celebrated its first anniversary with a new endowment of $70 million on Friday.
Last year, the Institution of a Public Character (IPC) set up to mark Temasek Holdings' 35th anniversary, committed grants totalling $1.7 million to support five programmes run by various voluntary welfare organisations serving nearly 1,200 beneficiaries.
These included those in the mental health, children and youth sectors. The new endowment fund has been set up for the health-care and special needs sectors.
Temasek Cares chairman Richard Magnus said the sectors were picked because of new and growing needs - health care because of an aging population, and special needs because growing awareness has led to more children being diagnosed and these children can benefit from early childhood intervention.
So, training professionals in these two sectors is one thing the grant-maker is intending to fund. In health care, it is looking to fund the training of allied health professionals, such as physiotherapists or occupational therapists, and registered nurses for intermediate and long-term care.
It also hopes to support programmes that allow the elderly, who are frail or who have chronic illnesses, to be cared for at home instead of in residential homes or institutions. In special needs, it hopes to fund the training of early intervention teachers and therapists.
