Martin didn’t choose this work the way most people choose a career. He grew up inside it. His mother founded the Carmela Fassi organisation on the outskirts of Mendoza in 2000, running a day centre for people with disabilities. This remarkable project supports people living on society’s margins while bringing the wider community together through weekly meal distributions
Martin and his sister Carolina were there from the beginning, helping out as children, watching their mother give her time and energy to people that most of society had quietly stopped thinking about. He admits he didn’t always understand it. For a long time, he couldn’t quite see what his mother saw. That changed when he started spending time with the people the centre served. Seeing their reality firsthand convinced him that everyone deserves a life of dignity.
When their mother died, Martin and Carolina stepped up and took over the work. Poremma was introduced to the project by our contact Elisa and came on board in August 2025. Our funding covers a full-time social worker dedicated to the centre’s beneficiaries: helping people navigate hospitals and public offices, accompanying them to medical appointments, making home visits to check on living conditions and daily needs. It sounds straightforward, but for people with disabilities living on the margins of the public system, having someone in their corner for exactly this kind of thing makes a significant difference.
The centre has 60 permanent beneficiaries, and the social worker also responds to requests from beyond that group. It’s quiet, practical work, and it fills a gap that very few public alternatives come close to covering.
