written by: Carolyn Crane

ARC board member and treasurer Heidi Johnson champions a variety of causes with dynamic & hopeful energy. She's making a difference in SE Michigan for humans, animals, & the earth. She is a fierce, friendly force of good.
Heidi grew up in Ludington, in western MI, the child of a conservative father and liberal mother. She later moved to Kalamazoo and attended WMU, earning a degree in management with minors in finance and psychology. While in Kalamazoo, she learned about home weatherization from her father. She moved to Milan for love seven years ago, taking a job with the Weatherization Program of Washtenaw County. This program offers energy efficient upgrades like air sealing, insulation, furnaces & much more to low-income people. Five months ago, she was promoted to Supervisor.
“It’s Just Who I Am”
Heidi joined ARC in the summer of 2022 and now serves as our treasurer. “I am the token gay” member of the board, she jokes, pointing out that despite its broad support for the LGBTQIA+ community, there aren’t a lot of gay people in Milan. Does being the only gay person on the board make her feel conspicuous? Not at all, she says.

“I came out when I was 19.” Right after people come out, she explains, it’s very much a part of their identity. After a while it becomes more integrated, as it has with her. “It's just who I am.” Her 12-year-old daughter Sophie and Sophie’s friends are major motivators for her leadership role with ARC. Aware that her daughter is one of the few children at school without a dad, she wants to support Sophie and her peers in expressing their authentic gender and sexuality, as well as their parents’. “The younger generation expects equality,” she explains. ARC does some work with schools, educating about the importance of diversity rights and awareness. This is difficult work that requires patience, as there is friction in the schools about this issue. The Diversity Club at Milan Middle School was recently dissolved, for example.
A Fierce, Friendly Force of Good
“Since day one, Heidi has been such an asset to ARC,” Ashley St. Clair, acting president, said recently. “Her organization, passion, and natural gift of helping people make her one of the strongest members of our team. I always know that no matter what the issue, Heidi will have a well thought out solution and plan.”
Heidi has seen Milan become “more blue” in the last five years. What was once simply an old farming community has morphed into a bedroom community for the more progressive towns\ of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. This rapid transition fuels the tension that she sees her community navigating on the city council and school board. It is important to Heidi that we find common ground, a place to begin a conversation that moves toward diversity, equity, and kindness.
“When she’s not helping her low-income neighbors weatherize or being a leader at ARC, Heidi, along with her daughter Sophie, is busy at home with foster kittens and puppies. Heidi serves as the Vice President and Feline Program Coordinator for Save Monroe Strays. Heidi lives in Washtenaw County but got involved with Save Monroe Strays due to the increased need for providing foster animal care in Monroe County, where the early 20 th century view of shooting cats still has somewhat of a stronghold. Again, Heidi combines education and boots-on-the- ground efforts to mold her activism.
In addition to their own four dogs and cats, Heidi and Sophie foster nine kittens and most recently a puppy. “I’m actually allergic to cats,” she laughs, saying that her career in weatherization has taught her air-quality control hacks that make the cohabitation possible. The logistics of managing so many animals in her home are extreme, even funny at times. She has different rooms and areas for different animals.
Heidi is the “backbone of the rescue,” a colleague at Save Monroe Strays recently wrote on social media. “Truly [we] could not function without her. On our hardest days, she remains calm, level headed, and does her best to keep us from breaking down. [She] has a heart filled to the brim with love and [she] has a wicked sense of humor….She is a fierce advocate for animals and humans, does not back down, and is an all-around badass.”

Beyond humans and animals, Heidi cares for the earth itself. She can be found along the banks of Lake Erie some Saturdays, freeing tree roots of plastic as she enjoys the big water view. “We must be stewards of the earth,” she recently posted on social media. “There is nothing more grounding than being in nature. Caring for it is caring for our souls.”
Heidi Johnson’s activism takes many forms. The common denominator is kindness. The result is progress.
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