SACRED ALLY QUILT MINISTRY
The Sacred Ally Quilt Ministry uses the narrative art of quilting as both a healing balm and a catalyst for transformation. We hope that in viewing the quilts, people are led not only to remembrance, but to reflection and action. By creating space for sacred conversations within our communities, we begin to wash away the sin of white supremacy and racism—little by little, stitch by stitch.
Photo courtesy of St. Paul's School
NH Conference of the United Church of Christ
Sacred Ally Quilt Ministry is a Justice and Witness Ministry of the New Hampshire Conference of the United Church of Christ.
NHCUCC’s Mission: Our vision is a world that seeks compassion, justice, and peace for all people through the love of Jesus Christ, a faith that celebrates the Holy Spirit as the source of joy, growth, and healing, and a church that offers to all a dwelling place with God and for God.
The New Hampshire Conference of the United Church of Christ, by act of the gathered Conference, has declared and committed itself to be an Open and Affirming Conference and a Racial Justice Conference. We seek belonging, valuing, and justice for persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, races, ethnicities, nationalities, abilities, and economic classes, in the life and ministries of the church.
THE SACRED ALLIES
Photo by Cary Hardwick
Reverend Mark Koyama
Rev. Mark Koyama grew up in South East Asia and New Zealand before coming to live in the United States in 1980. He was educated at Bates College, Union Theological Seminary (MA 1992), University of Massachusetts Amherst (MFA 2010) and Yale Divinity School (MDiv 2015). Mark teaches literature and religious studies at Northfield Mount Hermon School, and is the settled pastor at the United Church of Jaffrey, in Jaffrey New Hampshire.
Click here to watch "Claustrophobia," Mark's July 2020 sermon about the origins of the quilt project.
Harriet Ward
Harriet Ward was a scientist and a Christian activist. For decades, she served infants and young children with vision loss, blindness and additional health and developmental challenges. Called by Christ to Antiracism work, Harriet was a powerful voice in the United Church of Christ where she served on the Board of Directors of the National United Church of Christ and as Chair of the Anti-Racism Ministry group (ARMg) New Hampshire Conference of the United Church of Christ. Harriet was a talented and inspired quilter. It came naturally to her. She grew up making meals, clothing, rag rugs and quilts out of scraps and leftovers.
Harriet died in January 2024.
Photo by Mark Koyama
Photo courtesy of Lipofsky Photography
Kathy Barrett Blair
Kathy Barrett Blair is a lifelong resident of Keene, NH. With a degree in Occupational Therapy from UNH, she was the preschool occupational therapist for the Keene School District for 34 years. She chaired the NHCUCC Ukama Mission Group in partnership with UCC churches in Zimbabwe. Kathy designed and coordinated the renovation of UCC Keene’s Elsie Priest Park and children’s playground. She learned to sew in 4-H and continues to express her creativity through fabric, including the design and construction of Quilt #4 of the George Floyd Quilts. Kathy is honored to serve with Rev. Mark Koyama and Harriet Ward as coordinators of SAQM.
The George Floyd Quilts were sewn by members of the following congregations:
Stratham Community Church, Rockingham County, NH
First Church Pelham, Hillsborough County, NH
Pilgrim UCC, Brentwood-Kingston, Rockingham County, NH
United Church of Christ in Keene, Cheshire County, NH
United Church of Jaffrey, Cheshire County, NH
Federated Church of Marlboro, Cheshire County, NH
First Congregational Church of Wolfboro, Carroll County, NH
South Congregational Church in Concord, Merrimack County, NH
First Congregational Church of Wakefield, Rockingham County, NH
