Startin wins Small Town America Civic Volunteer honors

LACROSSE – Community Pride, Angela Broeckel, Mayor Randy Camp, and the LaCrosse City Council nominated community leader Lois Startin for the National Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award last october. An award more than seven hundred people from across the nation were nominated for. Earning an Honorable Mention, Startin is one of the top national finishers.

A regional news reporter looked at obstacles LaCrosse faced twelve years ago, describing the community as another rural town headed for “extinction.”

“As mayor and council leaders we believe Lois is the perfect representative of a Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award Winner,”said Camp.

Startin has been a leader of the LaCrosse Business Group for 24 years, the Scholarship Foundation for 22, and Community Pride for a decade. She has helped renovate several Main Street buildings and brought a grocery store, bank, cafe, meat market, manufacturing, a new and expanded library, and insurance businesses to town. As well as an enthusiastic supporter of the rock house project to “bring visitors to our small community.”

“I’ve been a member of this community for most of my life,” she said “The rebuilding of LaCrosse is near and dear to my heart. I’m enthusiastic and willing to do whatever it takes. I would love to see every storefront on Main Street have a business. I think it is possible. It will take the community working together to attract small businesses to our area.”

Lois was awarded her Civic Volunteer Award certificate during the parade at the 2022 Farmer’s Festival held in LaCrosse Washington on June 26th.