The House Next Door
Nurturing Families. Building Communities.
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Client services are currently being offered both virtually and in person.
2025 Award Winners
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Emiko Gowan
2025 Cynthia Blomquist Quality Client Care Award Winner
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Cynthia Blomquist was the very first employee hired by The House Next Door. The history of our agency was positively shaped by her dedication, out-of-the-box thinking and exceptional work ethic. As the first employee she embraced the notion of supporting the family unit and believed in the power of the family structure. At the heart of work was her passion to always provide the highest quality of care to our clients. This passion continues to be present in her work today in the insurance field. Cynthia provided quality client care, before standards of care existed. Her passion laid the groundwork for what we today refer to as HND standard of care.
The Cynthia Blomquist Quality Client Care award was created to recognize and celebrate a staff member who has gone above and beyond to provide high quality care to our clients. The recipient of the Cynthia Blomquist Quality Client Care award must have demonstrated throughout the past year, dedication to providing high quality care, embraced meeting the client where they are, and helped the client decrease risk factors while increasing protective factors, combined with providing HND level of high standard of care.
This year’s recipient treats each client with the care they would give a family member. They find creative ways to uplift the entire family unit. Great care is given to meeting the client where they are and help them reach their full potential.
Alyssa LaMendola
2025 Ella Bryan HND Values Award Winner
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Ella Bryan dedicated her life to strengthening and supporting families. Working through The House Next Door and her church, she made a difference for thousands of families through the years. With a loving heart she listened to children, parents and staff with compassion, never passing judgement. Ella had a gift for seeing your potential and making you believe in it too. She was a tireless mentor, always there with an encouraging word and giving strength with her faith in you. If Ella was awake she working to make a change in her community and to strengthen the individuals who lived within it. A humble woman, she was always willing to extend her hand not only to help, but in friendship. Her passion and belief in each person’s value led her to a leadership position in the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association (FADAA) on the State level. She believed with all her heart that we would find the answers and make the needed changes working together – families, professionals, communities.
The Ella Bryan HND Values Award was created to recognize and celebrate a staff member who demonstrates our values. The recipient of the Ella Bryan HND Values Award must have demonstrated the following values: Family is the foundation, advocated for change, made a difference, instilled hope, listened with compassion, inspired growth, empowered our community and strength in diversity.
This year’s recipient not only demonstrates each of our values every single day, but leans into listening with compassion, even with the youngest of our clients. With their specialty training they make a difference with one of the most challenging dynamics a family can face, their child being sexually abused. Our recipient listens with compassion and instills hope to help these families heal and move forward. She patiently advocates for change and celebrates with her clients each of their successes.
Aaron Barnes
2025 Ann Grell Employee of the Year Award Winner
The Ann Grell Employee of the Year award was created to recognize an employee that goes above and beyond in all aspects of their job. Ann Grell Co-Founder and First Executive Director of HND was a pioneer in advocating for families. With a shoestring budget, a clear vision and a heart for her community, Ann laid a strong foundation for HND. After many years of leading the agency, she went back to school to obtain her masters in mental health from UCF and worked in our therapy department as a therapist and later as a supervisor. In every role that she has held, Ann is an inspirational force that lovingly encourages each of us to go above and beyond to better ourselves, our agency and our community.
This year’s recipient is a superstar in every sense of the word. Behind the scenes this employee makes the magic happen. When a hiccup or challenge appears they swiftly resolve it, often before the rest of us even knew there was a problem. We all heavily rely on their expertise and patience when our technology isn’t working as we need it to. Without him we’d all be lost. Our organization is stronger because of his thoughtful dedication to helping us reach excellence.
Lorraine Dacey
Tom Robertson Community Business Investment Award
The Tom Robertson Community Business Investment award was created in recognition of Tom Robertson, wo has dedicated decades of hours to establish an ongoing supporting Family Foundation for the longevity of The House Next Door. He provides monitoring and directing of foundation funds for growth and development. The successful growth of the Foundation’s assets over the years is the combination of donor gifts and prudent investing.
The recipient of the Tom Robertson Community Business Investment awed must demonstrate, over a significant period of time, dedication to maintaining the financial viability of The House Next Door and its family services that promote the nurturing and empowering of families in our community.
Our recipient this year began her career in behavioral health care with SMA over twenty years ago. Her long-time coworker and current CEO of SMA, Ivan Cosimi, described her as a teacher responsible for the personal growth of countless SMA fiscal staff members. He noted that those colleagues continue to apply the skills she taught them, embodying the approach of not letting stress affect them—at least not in public.
In the 2020/2021 period, SMA was asked to assist The House Next Door in rebuilding its finance department due to some turnover. Our recipient jumped in without hesitation. With her industry knowledge, she immediately made a significant impact on operations at HND. She created tools to help the agency manage its various contracts and provided essential management reporting, contributing to the agency's success. She played an instrumental role in helping the agency rebuild its finance team and enhance its business acumen, a benefit that endures to this day.
On a personal note, I am uncertain how many hours this recipient has contributed to HND over the past 4-5 years. However, one thing stands out to me: she did all of this volunteer work free of charge. She once told me that she loved retirement too much to return to work, but I knew what she really meant—our agency couldn't afford her expertise. As the person overseeing the books, she truly understood our financial limitations.
Beyond her many years of volunteer work in our fiscal department, her dedication to teaching is equally noteworthy. She has been a strong mentor to our fiscal team. When I expressed my belief that our bookkeeper had the potential to eventually lead the fiscal department at HND, she shared my vision and actively supported his growth into a leadership role within the agency. Whether it was sharing insights over muffins at Panera or during late-night phone calls, she offered wisdom, patience, and encouragement, leaving a lasting legacy of excellence with our controller, Tavaughn.
Please join me in congratulating our 2024 Tom Robertson Community Business Investment Award winner, Lorraine Dacey!
Amanda Agnew
Gail Hallmon Champion of Families Award
The Gail Hallmon Champion of Families Award was created in recognition of Gail Hallmon, who has dedicated decades of volunteer hours to championing families in our community. Gail treats her volunteer work with as much importance and deserving the same level of commitment as her professional work. She spent many years championing families through her volunteer work with Parent Craft, as a Girl Scout Leader, taking PTA leadership positions, mission trip work with First Presbyterian Church, IDignity and countless other community events.
To be eligible for this award, the recipient must have demonstrated over a significant period of time, dedication to the promotion of nurturing and empowering families in our community, combined with community service geared toward families.
This year’s recipient initially vowed never to work in the insurance industry but has since dedicated her career to it, now successfully running a State Farm branch right here in downtown Deland. Originally from Bartow, she and her husband fell in love with Deland and decided to start their family and businesses in the area. In addition to her professional achievements, she considers her two beautiful daughters, Rebecca and Lydia, to be her greatest accomplishments.
She is deeply committed to community service and can often be seen around downtown on weekends, engaging in community initiatives, attending events as a sponsor, or enjoying one of her favorite pastimes: shopping downtown to support local businesses. As both a businesswoman and a mother, her community service efforts focus on children and families.
She has served as President of the Junior Service League, President of the Deland Chamber of Commerce, and President of the Deland Breakfast Rotary. Additionally, she is a member of the Krewe and has served on numerous other boards. As the sponsorship chair for the Wild Game Feast event, she has supported the House Next Door, ensuring that we remain the primary recipient of funding, as the founders intended.
This recipient makes a significant contribution to the families in our community.
Please join me in acknowledging and congratulating our 2024 Gail Hallmon Champion of Families Award Winner, Amanda Agnew!
Bobbie Baugh
Cecil Paul and Maria Jones Community Hero Award
The Cecil Paul and Maria Jones Community Hero award was created in recognition of Paul and Maria Jones. The Jones’ have dedicated decades of volunteer hours meeting our community’s needs and have been steadfast supporters of The House Next Door.
The recipient of the Cecil Paul and Maria Jones Community Hero Award must have demonstrated over a significant period of time, dedication to the promotion of nurturing and empowering families in our community, combined with a strong sense of civic duty.
This year’s recipient came to DeLand in 1972 as a freshman at Stetson University and has lived here ever since. After graduating in 1976, she and her former husband started a printing and nameplate business that they co-owned and operated for over thirty years. In 2015, she retired and began working as a studio artist, creating textile-collaged wall art quilts.
Throughout her time in DeLand, she has actively contributed to the community. She served as a board member and then as President of the DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as a board member and two-term President of the Museum of Art DeLand. Additionally, she was a board member and President of DeLand’s Fall Festival of the Arts.
She enjoys supporting her community through various organizations and often takes on behind-the-scenes tasks. As an enthusiastic school volunteer, she works twice a week in a kindergarten class at Starke Elementary School. She is also a member of the DeLand Breakfast Rotary, where she supports community service projects. Furthermore, she has handled marketing and graphic projects for the Fall Festival of the Arts and currently manages their website.
She created and manages the website for Volusia Remembers, a community organization that collaborates with the Equal Justice Initiative. Additionally, she is active in SAQA, an international organization dedicated to promoting art quilts and art quilt artists. She has established and maintains a gallery for Florida textile artists, chairs the state exhibition committee, and edits the organization's newsletter for Florida.
Recently, she re-joined the Board of Directors for the Museum of Art DeLand and is a member of the Public Art, Strategic Range Planning, and Executive Search Committees. She also chairs the Mural Committee for the City of DeLand. This election season, she volunteered as a poll worker for the Supervisor of Elections, and she has generously donated her time at the Homework Club, sharing her love of art with students.
Please join me in acknowledging and congratulating our 2024 Cecil Paul and Maria Jones Community Hero Award Winner, Bobbi Baugh!