Service · Courage · Legacy
YMCA Heroes.
Lives of service that continue to shape our mission, our homes and the way we stand beside people in Malta.
Remembering those whose compassion became action
Our living legacy
They helped build more than an organisation.
YMCA Malta’s story is made of people who chose to act: volunteers, founders, friends and benefactors who saw a need and responded with courage and compassion.
This page honours some of the people whose service became part of our identity. Their names live not only in our memory, but in the care, shelter and opportunities offered every day.
Volunteer · Aid worker · Global citizen
Nikolai “Niki” Cassar
1973 to 2003
Nikolai was a Maltese aid worker and one of the YMCA volunteers who helped set up the first homeless shelter in Malta, while also serving on missions abroad.
Niki was a global citizen with a powerful sense of social responsibility. He worked in the Andes in Peru, and in Bali and Indonesia, promoting traditional handicrafts in Malta on behalf of Aw Tribu and the YMCA. He died in a motorcycle crash in Bali on 19 April 2003, at the age of 29.
Missionaries and aid workers abroad can sometimes become disheartened so far from home. Their work is rarely flashy or glamorous. Yet Nikolai’s death, tragic as it was, showed that people who devote themselves to others are valued and remembered.
Life is increasingly hectic and moments to pause can be rare. It remains important to remember local heroes who dedicated their lives to helping others. Nikolai is one of them.
His vision is dreamed anew every day at our residential facility, Dar Niki Cassar, also known as Niki Cassar’s Home, where individuals, families and children experiencing homelessness are sheltered.
Friend · Benefactor · Encourager
Simon Soler
A life of practical generosity
In 1999, Simon Soler started a business selling detergents and toiletries directly at customers’ doorsteps, at a time when home delivery by supermarkets and grocers was uncommon.
From the beginning, Simon used his business to help people in need through product and monetary donations. His generosity supported many organisations, including the Ursuline Sisters, Suret il-Bniedem, Dar Merħba Bik, St Joseph Home Żabbar and YMCA Malta.
Simon personally served residents at Dar Niki Cassar. He always made time to sit with them, listen to their experiences and support them as they worked towards self-sufficiency, healthy choices and independence.
Simon passed away in 2016 at the age of 51, after battling a serious illness for three years.
His encouragement lives on at Dar Simon Soler, our second-stage shelter supporting individuals and families in their process of reintegration after experiencing homelessness.
Founder · Leader · Visionary
Albert Degiorgio
Founder of YMCA Malta
YMCA Malta was established in 1976 after Albert Degiorgio was inspired by a Scottish YMCA summer camp. Initially centred around a coffee bar in Valletta, its early activities included organising concerts, visiting hospital patients, hosting Christmas parties for children and conducting street patrols.
The National Council was formed in 1989 with support from YMCA Europe, YMCA Scotland and the Swiss parish of Wil. Four local associations were established within the first two years. During Albert’s time, YMCA Malta developed programmes including international youth exchanges, English language courses, literacy initiatives, a suicide helpline, canoeing, first-aid training, street theatre, counselling and homeless shelters.
Albert passed away at the age of 73, but remains forever in our hearts and in the soul of our work. Until his final days, he continued to visit the YMCA Head Office to ensure the organisation remained active and contemporary. He also never missed a visit to Dar Niki Cassar, even after the facility moved outside Valletta.
In November 2023, YMCA Malta organised the conference Soul Empowerment: A Holistic Care Programme in Memory of Albert Degiorgio.
Albert’s vision was to support young people, especially those living on the streets at a time when few services existed. That vision remains alive. His vision grew, and YMCA Malta grew with it.
President · Advocate · Partner
Mary J. Jones
President of YWCA Malta
For two decades, Mary J. Jones served as President of YWCA Malta and became a longstanding friend and partner of YMCA Malta. Her leadership was rooted in the conviction that women and girls should be equipped with the confidence, knowledge and practical skills needed to improve their lives and strengthen society.
Under her leadership, YWCA Malta promoted a Self-Development Programme offering free basic education, vocational skills and life-skills training through professional members and volunteers. Mary spoke consistently about poverty, single motherhood, domestic violence, social exclusion and barriers to the labour market, while also calling for greater care for the environment.
Mary helped turn the shared values of YMCA and YWCA into visible community action. From 2007, the two movements worked with Pembroke Local Council and environmental partners to regenerate a formerly desolate 4,500 m² site into the YMCA-YWCA Pembroke Park. Through native planting and commemoration ceremonies, the park joined environmental care with public remembrance and community service.
The partnership continued into a new generation through the YMCA-YWCA EQUA Hub in Msida. Officially opened in January 2026, the refurbished community space brought together digital skills, inclusion and access to professional support. At its opening, Mary marked YWCA Malta’s twentieth anniversary and reaffirmed its commitment to social justice and community wellbeing.
Mary passed away on 25 July 2026.
Mary’s legacy lives in a partnership that brought YMCA and YWCA Malta together around women’s empowerment, environmental responsibility, education, inclusion and practical care for people facing disadvantage.
Collective service
Y’s Friends Malta
Founded in 2004, Y’s Friends is a service club supporting YMCA Malta’s operational needs on a project-by-project basis. Members meet with key YMCA staff to identify needs and plan practical support together.
Y’s Friends is affiliated with Y’s Men International, a collaboration from which YMCA Malta has benefited over the years. In 2000, Y’s Men International sponsored the opening of Dar Niki Cassar in St Paul’s Street, Valletta, with a donation of USD 20,000. This helped YMCA Malta fund the salaries of its first employees.
Y’s Friends has concentrated its efforts on fundraising. Support secured from the Dutch YMCA helped furnish the Msida shelter, including renovation of the kitchen and the provision of bunk beds, mattresses, office furniture and other essentials.
International friends have also turned personal milestones into generosity, while Y’s Friends members have regularly brought food hampers to help reduce the shelter’s daily food costs. As YMCA Malta’s needs have grown, the group has increasingly focused its work on corporate social responsibility.