Each month, we highlight a new Supermom of the Month, a member who has gone above and beyond to advocate for clean air and children’s health.
This month, we are celebrating Michele Timmons. Michele was nominated by Ohio Field Organizer Tracy Sabetta.
Michele was one of Ohio’s very first Supermoms, starting as a volunteer in 2011. Then and now, she is committed to advocating for policies that will protect her asthmatic child—a child who has grown into an adult before our eyes over the last 13 years.
Michele has done it all. She has written letters to the editor and spoken at press conferences with elected officials, labor leaders, faith leaders, and even automotive manufacturers. She has met with lawmakers and done media interviews too numerous to count, including one in her living room. She has given testimony before EPA about important clean air protections, spoken before an Ohio House committee against Ohio House Bill 6, and even wrote a letter for the Dear Tomorrow project with Moms back in 2017. She has shared her life story with Moms over the last decade and embodies what being a Supermom really means.
Tell Congress: Commit to Climate Investments and Clean Air Progress
We asked Michele a few questions about her motivation and activism:
Why did you join Moms?
I am a small business owner, an educational consultant, and one of the very first members of Moms Clean Air Force in Ohio. I grew up in Steubenville, Ohio, in the 1970s, when it was one of America’s most polluted cities. I was one of the kids who participated in Harvard University’s famous and ground-breaking “Six Cities” study for more than a decade. This study, published in December 1993, looked at the link between air pollution and mortality rates in six U.S. cities and paved the way for strengthened federal soot standards.
I am also the mother of an adult daughter who has suffered from asthma since she was six-months-old. My friend Tracy Sabetta shared the opportunity to join Moms as she was first incubating it in Ohio, back in 2011. Given my background and my daughter’s asthma challenges, I jumped at the chance to positively impact my community, the state, and the nation. More than a decade later, I am still a huge advocate for looking at clean air from a children’s health perspective.
What role do you think moms and caregivers can play in addressing environmental challenges?
Moms and caregivers can play a huge role in addressing environmental challenges. As voters and taxpayers, we can move mountains (and change legislators’ minds) when we work together in support of a common goal. Using the power of the Moms network, we can arm ourselves with knowledge and use that knowledge to help others understand key environmental challenges that are impacting us locally, and globally. We can start small by sharing what we learn from Moms with friends and neighbors. We can grow a little bigger by volunteering to work at a community event sponsored by Moms. We can grow a little bolder by offering to write an editorial on a topic that is important to us. Those of us who are ready for a big splash can even volunteer to testify at state or national hearings on environmental issues.
My best advice to moms and caregivers is to follow your passion. Every now and again, take a step outside your comfort zone to try a new way to share your concerns and solutions. It’s also fun to bring your children to Moms’ events so they see you in action. Sometimes you create mini-Moms in the making, and nothing is cooler than that!
Just remember: the team at Moms in each state is there to help you on this journey. Personally, I would never have been as involved if it wasn’t for my pal and amazing activist, Tracy, sharing opportunities and supporting me every step of the way.
How do you see the connection between air quality and public health?
I am an educator by trade, and one of my passions has always been addressing nonacademic barriers to learning. Given this lens, I see air quality as a public health issue because it triggers childhood illnesses, such as asthma and allergies, which often result in absences from school for children and missed days of work for parents and caregivers.
During my daughter’s childhood, my family spent thousands of hours administering breathing treatments, battling symptoms, going to doctors’ appointments, and making late-night ER runs when her asthma was out of control. When these challenges occurred, my husband or I had to miss work or go into work with minimal sleep. During her earliest academic career, Noelle even lost about 10 days of academic instruction—per year.
Like my daughter, more than 170,000 Ohio children struggle with the realities of asthma every day. When children miss school because of asthma, especially during their early academic years, it makes it so much harder for them to succeed in school. This results in lower academic achievement. Children who struggle with academic achievement often find other ways to avoid school and later are underprepared for life after high school. So in reality, air quality connects not just to public health but also to workforce development and economic prosperity, for the children, their families, the state, region, nation, and world.
Tell Congress: Commit to Climate Investments and Clean Air Progress