ALEM began as a vocational training program for People with Disabilities in 2007. Though this initiative in itself was unsuccessful for job placement, due to the lack of accessible public transit and resistance of employers in Cuernavaca, people saw wheelchairs and saw a fully equipped shop and began to ask if we could repair their wheelchairs. So, we became a vocational training center and productive facility repairing all types of wheelchairs.

Local Rotary clubs and Rotary International became an important partner allowing us to use their vast network of Rotary Clubs making our desperately needed wheelchair repair service accessible to people across central Mexico. Later the Rotary foundation offered us grants for additional training, and to help purchase a utility trailer outfitted with all the necessary tools, equipment and a modest amount of parts and supplies. We now offer regular service in 5 states of Mexico. And in this process, the ALEM team challenges people’s unexamined assumptions about what people with disabilities can and cannot do. In 2016 Rotary International named four projects they support around the world – and ALEM was given that recognition.