The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Dr. Joyce M. Cusack Resource Center brought together officials from the City of DeLand and Volusia County. The ribbon-cutting, which had been delayed by more than a year due to COVID-19, was followed by the 19th Annual TURN (To Unite, Rebuild, and Network) Festival in Spring Hill.
(All photos by Beacon photographer Marsha McLaughlin)
PHOTOS: 19th Annual TURN fest and Resource Center Ribbon Cutting in Spring Hill
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DeLand Mayor Bob Apgar with Dr. Joyce Cusack unveil the new plaque for the Resource Center, named in honor of Mrs. Cusack.

Pastor Anthony Williams and Co-Pastor Dana Williams give the prayer for the official ribbon-cutting of the Dr. Joyce M. Cusack Resource Center. “Bless those who walk in these doors,” the Williams said.

Volusia County Council Member Barb Girtman and DeLand Mayor Bob Apgar present former DeLand Public Works Director Bo Davenport with a certificate of appreciation Sept. 11, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Dr. Joyce M. Cusack Resource Center. Davenport has been a longtime champion of Spring Hill, a majority Black area in southwest DeLand. “On my tombstone, you put that I loved Spring Hill,” Davenport said.

From left are DeLand City Manager Michael Pleus, City Commissioners Kevin Reid, Charles Paiva, Chris Cloudman, and Jessica Davis, former city Public Works Director Bo Davenport, Mayor Bob Apgar, Dr. Joyce Cusack, Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald, and Volusia County Council Member Barb Girtman.

DeLand City Commissioner Jessica Davis, Mayor Bob Apgar, Stetson University Director of Diversity and Inclusion Joanne Harris-Duff, and City Commissioner Chris Cloudman pose at the TURN Festival’s Exceptional Community Partner Awards. Harris-Duff acted as the facilitator for a series of listening sessions with Spring Hill residents over the course of the past year. The sessions were taped, and will be used as both oral histories, and to gain information on how to be inclusive with future programs.

DREAMS DO COME TRUE — Dr. Joyce Cusack and Resource Center Director Shilretha Dixon Sept. 11 pose with a sign made for Cusack by a 9-year-old member of the Boys & Girls Club, a youth organization only a block away from the Dr. Joyce M. Cusack Resource Center.
“Years from now, when someone says Joyce Cusack, that name sounds familiar — you tell them to come down to Spring Hill, where there is a building with my name on it,” Cusack told an audience of dignitaries, family, friends and supporters. “I love all of you.”

DeLand City Commissioner Jessica Davis, Mayor Bob Apgar, Stetson University Director of Diversity and Inclusion Joanne Harris-Duff, and City Commissioner Chris Cloudman pose at the TURN Festival’s Exceptional Community Partner Awards. Harris-Duff acted as the facilitator for a series of listening sessions with Spring Hill residents over the course of the past year. The sessions were taped, and will be used as both oral histories, and to gain information on how to be inclusive with future programs.