On Tuesday March 18, community leaders, business people and elected officials gathered at Humble Bar for a book presentation by Aracelis Flecha Figueroa and to celebrate the soft launch of the Nancy Franco Maldonado Foundation. José E. López, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, opened the event and was followed by Cristian Roldan who read his review of Figueroa’s book, “El Canto del Baramaya,” a young adult novel that delves into Puerto Rican history and culture. Next followed Ald. Roberto Maldonado, accompanied by his children, mother-in-law Felicia and father-in-law Hector Franco. Roberto delivered a moving presentation and imparted that his children came up with the idea of creating the Nancy Franco Maldonado Foundation in order to fund research to improve the detection of pancreatic cancer. Author Figueroa, who is an educator and community activist, was last to speak. She explained she wrote the book in part to help young adults understand the idiosyncrasies of Puerto Rican life and ended by saying that new chapters needed to be added to this seminal work. Attendees included architect Luis Martínez, entrepreneur Joe Betancourt, Ald. Migdalia “Millie” Santiago and Northeastern Illinois University Board.