In 2022, Simpson UMC through the hard work of Terry and John Hall received a $1000 grant from the Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) to create a public-facing project intended to disrupt Anti-Asian racism and support Asian American communities. Simpson’s project was titled Transformation of Our Suitcases. Below is the project description:

Tracing their beginnings to a non-denominational gathering of Japanese people in September of 1907, Simpson United Methodist Church (SUMC) continues to be a refuge for the Japanese American community and the broader Asian American community in the Denver metro area. A number of intergenerational families in the SUMC congregation have lived through significant moments of American history and have had encounters of different manifestations of Anti-Asian hate. In addition to their personal stories, the congregation’s history within the United Methodist Church denomination provided a macro view of how some of these micro-aggressive themes could influence institutions and affect the individual lives of Asian Americans. More than that, the annual Mountain Sky Conference provided an opportunity for different generations to impart their wisdom to one another to nurture resilience and courage to confront racial hate. 

You can watch the video recording here.

A video made by Alex Osaka who was our youngest panelist from Simpson’s Suitcase project:  Stop Motion Movie