Esta ley renombra el Cayo Cardona, ubicado al sur de Playa de Ponce, como "Cayo Hermana Isolina Ferré" en reconocimiento a su labor comunitaria. La ley instruye a la Junta de Planificación y al Municipio de Ponce a tomar las medidas necesarias para cumplir con esta disposición.
(Approved February 19, 2002)
To rename the Cardona Key, located to the south of Ponce Beach and to the west of Punta Carenero, as the "Sister Isolina Ferré Key"; and to provide for the Planning Board and the Municipality of Ponce to take all necessary actions for the compliance of this Act.
Thanks to all her years of missionary service in needy communities, the name of Sister Isolina Ferré is known throughout Puerto Rico. Since her early childhood, Sister Isolina dreamt of devoting her life to missionary work. The years she devoted to this pursuit led her to serve the poor and the needy in many locations throughout Puerto Rico and the United States. She worked for several years in the coal-mining region of the Appalachian Mountains, with the Portuguese immigrants from Cabo Verde to Cape Cod, and with the Puerto Rican community in Brooklyn.
After her many years of service, she returned to Puerto Rico, and on returning to her city of birth, she went to live to Ponce Beach. There she saw a city in chaos. Ponce Beach had the highest crime rate, and high rates of school dropouts, unemployment, and extreme poverty. In 1969, along with a group of volunteers and missionaries, she founded a broad community-based multi-service project known as "Juventud y Comunidad Alerta", which program became more and more extensive until it became what we know now as Sister Isolina Ferré Centers. These centers, located at
the Beach and El Tuque in Ponce, the Independent Health Center and the Centers in Guayama and Caimito, are viewed and recognized as an example of community action. These centers offer workshops to teach the skills for jobs in photography, silk screen printing, pottery, cosmetology, upholstery, sewing, and gardening, among others. She created programs for disabled children and their families, young runaways, pregnant teens, and the elderly, always emphasizing in the development of the person to the fullest, promoting the respect and dignity of the individual within the community.
Sister Isolina has left an indelible imprint in the history of our people and her efforts have reached the hearts of persons in need, especially the residents of Ponce Beach, who felt the soothing friendly hand of this great human being offering them the hope of a better tomorrow. To the south of Ponce and precisely to the west of the community of Ponce Beach lies the Cardona Key. The Cardona Key, known by this name for over two centuries, has been of great importance to Ponce Beach; in 1889, the beacon was constructed there to guide ships to Port. The shape of this beacon with its beckoning light was the graphic symbol Sister Isolina used in undertaking the endeavor of revitalizing the then marginalized community of Ponce Beach. For all of the above stated, to designate this Key with the name of the Sister Isolina Ferré Key constitutes a recognition and pays due homage and the debt of gratitude, love and admiration to the commendable work and devotion of this illustrious Puerto Rican lady.
Section 1.- To rename the Cardona Key, located to the south of Ponce Beach and to the west of Punta Carenero, as the "Sister Isolina Ferré Key."
Section 2.- The Planning Board and the Municipality of Ponce shall take the necessary measures to comply with the provisions of this Act, as provided in Act No. 75 of June 24, 1975, as amended, and Act No. 81 of August 30, 1991, as amended, respectively.
Section 3.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 36 (S.B. 841) of the $3^{ ext {nd }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to rename the Cardona Key, located to the south of Ponce Beach and to the west of Punta Carenero, as the "Sister Isolina Ferré Key"; and to provide for the Planning Board and the Municipality of Ponce to take all necessary actions for the compliance of this Act, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $29^{ ext {th }}$ of December of 2003.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director