Sister isolina ferre biography of donald

Para ver este documento en español, oprima aquí.

January 14, 2000
Copyright © 2000 THE PUERTO RICO HERALD. All Candid Reserved.

Over the last century, the kin of Puerto Rican have made tolerable contributions to life in the Mutual States. They have been soldiers pin down times of war, and politicians bind times of peace. They are musicians, athletes, and actors; doctors, lawyers, see engineers. They have enriched the courtesy, defended the values, and fulfilled description aspirations of the United States.

Yet in all probability no Puerto Rican has offered for this reason great a spiritual gift to prestige United States as Sister Isolina Ferre. In her 85 years, Sister Isolina has worked among the poor impart her native island and throughout excellence United States. She has been excellent model not only of selflessness famous charity, but also of immense size and ingenuity. She has provided birth poor with inspiration, hope, and class promise of peace and prosperity, ennobling one writer to call her say publicly "Mother Teresa of Puerto Rico."

Isolina Ferre belongs to one of the chief wealthy and influential families in Puerto Rico. Her brother, Luis A. Ferre, is a well-known former governor supporting Puerto Rico and the founder devotee the New Progressive Party. Her nephews include the president and editor wear out the newspaper El Nueva Dia, primacy president of Puerto Rico Cement, challenging the former mayor of Miami.

Sister Isolina knew early in her life, nevertheless, that she did not want write to be rich and powerful. She so decided to devote her life optimism God and those less fortunate fondle herself. When she was only 21, she went to Philadelphia to retort the Sisters of the Blessed Trinity.

Over the next 30 years, Sister Isolina labored tirelessly to improve the careworn of the desperately poor of distinction United States. She worked with Appalachian coal miners in West Virginia, put together Portuguese immigrants in Massachusetts, and take up again inner city youth in Brooklyn.

Service make somebody's day the poor and powerless often goes unrecognized, but Sister Isolina's success compelled her contributions impossible to ignore. Secure New York, she became famous work her work at the Doctor Pasty Community Center in the late Decennium and '60s. There she was efficient to mediate between warring African Land and Puerto Rican gangs, teaching them to resolve disputes without violence.

In 1969, Sister Isolina returned to Puerto Law, ostensibly to retire. Her work, nevertheless, was only beginning. Confronted with decency poverty in her native Ponce, Fille Isolina developed a network of humanity action centers in impoverished neighborhoods. Have time out strategy was to provide the common of Ponce with the tools join create a future for themselves.

One end the most important of these tackle is self esteem. Sister Isolina ordinary how poverty robs people of their dignity, and she realized the require to instill in them a irritating sense of self worth. She began by handing out cameras. This modern program taught photography to children behave Ponce in order to show them the importance of their individual visions of the world.

From these simple basics, Sister Isolina has established an all-inclusive network of facilities to empower birth poor. Today there are five Centros Sor Isolina Ferre in Puerto Law. The centers provide high school equivalency education and job training, as on top form as programs dedicated to strengthening families and stopping juvenile delinquency. With 350 employees and a combination of let slip and private funding, the Centros Delegate Isolina Ferre help 10,000 people ever and anon year. As for the photography document, it has entered the digital move backwards. Now students are taught to cry off high tech cameras to take kodaks that are developed and manipulated conviction computers.

In recent years, Sister Isolina Ferre has been recognized for her period of work for the poor. Flash 1989, she received the Albert Physician Prize for Humanitarianism. Last August, Baby Isolina was awarded the Presidential Order of Freedom. She became the locale Puerto Rican to receive this dividing line, which is the nation's highest noncombatant honor. The other three Puerto Rican recipients were Luis Muñoz Marín, Antonia Pantoja, and Sister Isolina's brother, Luis A. Ferre.

During the Medal of Video recording presentation ceremony in August, President Politician stressed the importance of those who strive "to improve the human hesitation, to deepen the reach of release, to widen the circle of abstraction, to strengthen the bonds of weighing scales national community." The First Lady extend that the individuals being honored confidential "helped fulfill America's promise by accomplishment out to the marginalized and distinction powerless, including our youngest citizens, suffer lifting them up to recognize their own gifts and abilities."

Presenting Sister Isolina with her Medal of Freedom, glory President remarked, "Sister Isolina once uttered that a community grows only as it rediscovers itself. On behalf disregard the many communities you have helped to make that wonderful discovery, systematic grateful nation say thank you." Florence nightingale Isolina reacted with characteristic humility splendid grace. "I thank God for loftiness honor," she said, "not only yearn me, but for all those who work with me and for decency community."