Margit Johnson (left) listens to Scott Richardson speak during the Northfield Rotary Club luncheon on Thursday, where Johnson received the 2013 Good Neighbor Award. Also pictured is Betsy Spethmann.
Margit Johnson received the 2013 Good Neighbor Award from the Rotary Club of Northfield during the club’s luncheon Thursday at Northfield Golf Club.
The award is presented annually to a non-Rotarian living within the school district whose actions reflect the club’s “service above self” philosophy.
Johnson’s nomination letter said that: “Margit Johnson provides strong, steadfast leadership for many organizations that serve Northfield. Whether the chair of a board, a foot soldier, or committee member serving alongside fellow volunteers, Margit is a driving force for vision and action. WINGS. Friends & Foundation of the Library. League of Women Voters. Northfield Roundtable. Margit makes good things happen for the benefit of our community.”
In introducing Johnson, Rotary members Scott richardson and Betsy Spethmann siad that Johnson is a person who, for more than 30 years, has put community first.
Johnson is a transplant. She came to Northfield from Minneapolis to attend Carleton College, married, raised a daughter here, and all along used her time, energy and imagination to preserve Northfield’s unique sense of community and to build upon it.
Here are some of the activities Johnson has supported over the years:
She has been a huge supporter of the Northfield Public Library, serving on the Friends of the Library at different points in her life; she tackled sustainability issues, working on energy retrofitting projects and countywide recycling. She has been an active participant in community affairs; she has served on the Northfield Planning Commission; she has been an active member and held offices and board positions for the League of Women Voters; and a member and officer of WINGS.
In her introduction, it was said that Johnson tends to work quietly behind the scenes doing much of the heavy lifting required to make initiatives and organizations go.
“Take a 20,000-foot look at the Northfield landscape, and you’ll see Margit’s fingerprints all over it,” Spethmann said. “Sustainability, citizen participation, literacy and local philanthropy have been her passions, and we are extremely fortunate that she shares them with Northfield.”