2020 Women of Distinction Honoree
Margo Wallace Druschel is a transplant to Greater Mankato from coastal Massachusetts, moving here 10 years ago. In her volunteer life, Margo is active in leadership with Fair Trade advocacy. She is a Steering Committee member and active participant in Mankato Fair Trade, the group that helped Mankato become the first Fair Trade Town in Minnesota in 2011. She volunteered for 10 years with the Mankato Area Adaptive Downhill Ski Program through Community Education and Recreation, and she’s active in leadership at St. John’s Episcopal Church, as well as on the Board of Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership, a community development and housing organization. In her work life, Margo has served in a variety of college and university positions advising and supporting students and partnering with faculty colleagues to address barriers and make college and university more accessible to students with disabilities, students of color, first-generation college students and students from other language and cultural groups. Locally she worked for six years at Gustavus Adolphus College and is currently in the new University Advising Center at MNSU. Margo’s most life-changing work was with Minnesota Council of Churches Refugee Services Office in Mankato. She led a small team of amazing individuals, most of whom had experienced their own refugee journeys, in welcoming individuals and families from Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia to life in Greater Mankato. Learning and serving across racial, cultural and language barriers taught her about courage and perseverance and led to changes in her understanding and friendships she treasures.
