Read More: Ready to kick off 2023? First, let’s look back on 2022
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![covid testing](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-JAN-covid-testing-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON
COVID — Offering free COVID tests in Deltona are Family Health Source Director Laurie Asbury, left, and Family
Health Source Vice Chair Victor Ramos. Over the year, as the federal government began offering free tests, agencies no longer had to stage events to hand them out.
![mestrong 5k](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-FEB-47.-Theyre-A-Smile-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
TAKING ANOTHER LAP — Welcoming participants
and visitors at what was supposed to be the ME
STRONG 5K’s Last Lap in February 2022 are, from left, two of the founders, Linda Ryan and Kim Winters,
along with race supporter Matt Birnie. The 2022 race was intended as a final blowout after the five-woman team that started the annual event 10 years before announced their retirement. It didn’t take long, though, before Florida Cancer Specialists and a team of local Rotary Clubs announced that the race would continue, with its charitable mission intact. In its first 10 years, ME STRONG raised more than $2 million to help cancer victims and their families. Birnie is now
on the Rotary committee helping plan the future of
ME STRONG. The event was created by a group of Ryan’s friends, to encourage her through her own cancer battle. Each year, all of the proceeds have been
donated to members of the community; Ryan and
the four others donated their efforts to the cause.
![storm fallen tree](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-MAR-5.-GOOD-NEWS-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
FIRST OF A FEW STORMS — 2022’s notable storms in West Volusia included this one on March 9, which brought trees down on houses, including this one, in the northeast quadrant of DeLand. Later, hurricanes Ian and Nicole would cause a different kind of trouble.
FIRST OF A FEW STORMS — 2022’s notable storms in West Volusia included this one on March 9, which brought trees down on houses, including this one, in the northeast quadrant of DeLand. Later, hurricanes Ian and Nicole would cause a different kind of trouble.
![keep west volusia beautiful day](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-APRIL-47.-Ushce-Patel-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
SPRING CLEANING — Keep West Volusia Beautiful Day was a busy one in April, as government workers helped citizens with free shredding, free mulch and trees, litter pickups
and more efforts to beautify West Volusia’s environs. Above, Usha Patel discards some
papers that need shredding.
![faith volusia county council](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-MAY-50.-Jackie-Mole-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
PRAYING THAT THOSE IN NEED WILL HAVE AFFORDABLE HOUSING — Members of
the coalition of religious groups called FAITH — Fighting Against Injustice Towards Harmony — appeal to the Volusia County Council in May to do whatever is possible to increase the availability of affordable housing. FAITH members staged a prayer vigil outside the County Council meeting.
![juneteenth earl brown park](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-JUNE-BY-PRIMROSE-631x420.jpg)
PHOTO COURTESY PRIMROSE CAMERON
CELEBRATING FREEDOM — Young dancers celebrate Juneteenth at Earl Brown Park during the Juneteenth: Unity in the Community 2022 celebration in DeLand. The holiday marks the day in 1865 that slaves in Texas were officially told of their freedom, nearly two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
CELEBRATING FREEDOM — Young dancers celebrate Juneteenth at Earl Brown Park during the Juneteenth: Unity in the Community 2022 celebration in DeLand. The holiday marks the day in 1865 that slaves in Texas were officially told of their freedom, nearly two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
![deland city commission meeting beresford reserve](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-JUL-72-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
A LONG PROCESS — Concerned locals attend a DeLand City Commission meeting in July when the commission approved rezoning for Beresford Reserve, the controversial project that will see the construction of homes on a former golf course and city dump. While the decision came in 2022, citizens had been fighting the development since 2020.
![new owners the table](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-AUG-the-quinns-with-melisa-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/BARB SHEPHERD
DELAND RESTAURANT SOLD — DeLandite Melisa Reed, at right, surprised even close
friends when she announced the sale of her restaurant, The Table, to a family from Alaska. New owners Heidi and Jesse Quinn, and their children Maverick and Nova, meet with Reed at the Downtown DeLand eatery. The Quinns took over the restaurant in August.
![black history mural courtney canova](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/AO1-SEPT-43.-Courtney-Canova-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
WEST VOORHIS AVENUE EFFORTS — DeLand mural artist Courtney Canova, who led a team of artists to paint a Black history mural at the corner of Florida and West
Voorhis Avenue in DeLand, stands by the painting, which was revealed to the public
in September. It depicts real people from the history of DeLand’s Black community, and is part of several efforts to focus energy and funds on West Voorhis Avenue as a
gateway to the historic Black community in DeLand.
![early voting deltona](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-OCT-IMG_2868-1-560x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON
CAMPAIGNING — As early voting begins at The Center at Deltona Oct. 26, Democratic partisans show up to campaign for their favorites. From left are Jackie Moore of Deltona, Cindy Carter
of Deltona, Dana Dunmire
of Orange City and Robert
Trombetta of Deltona. They would be disappointed after the votes were counted; none of the candidates they’re holding signs for won.
![hurricane nicole damage beach](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-NOV-Screen-Shot-2022-12-18-at-4.11.05-PM-e1672173898188-786x420.jpg)
PHOTO COURTESY VOLUSIA COUNTY
POOL CLOSED — A hotel on the Volusia County coast shows the type of damage Hurricane Nicole’s wind and storm surge wrought in November on the beachside.
![operation cheer donations](https://beacononlinenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/A01-DEC-49-315x420.jpg)
BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
MANY ELVES — As the holidays approached, volunteers and organizations across West
Volusia got moving to assure that every child would have food in the house and a happy
holiday. Above, on Dec. 10, DeLand Police Explorer Cadet Erica Arias totes a bag of toys as
part of Operation Cheer, a partnership of the DeLand Police Athletic League, the DeLand Police Department and Volusia Toys for Tots to bring Christmas cheer to 450 families.