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2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Award: Pastor Sharon Buttry

This award is given to a member or organization of Faith that has stood up for justice, equality, inclusion, and righteousness. This awardee has stood with the oppressed, the forgotten, and the marginalized of society.

Rev. Sharon A. Buttry, MSW retired in 2019 as Associate Director of Training and Education at the International Hope Center based in Hamtramck, Michigan. She retired in 2018 as Global Consultant for Community Transformation with International Ministries, American Baptist Churches, USA. Rev. Buttry has extensive experience in urban community development in the United States and has led workshops in faith-based community development and trauma awareness/recovery in Poland, Belgium,

Switzerland, Italy, India, Myanmar, Nagaland, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, and the Middle East.


She earned graduate degrees in ministry and social work in Philadelphia (U PENN) between 1992-1996 and was ordained in 1996 via the American Baptist Churches at Calvary Baptist Church of Norristown, PA. Rev. Buttry has been a leader in the Detroit area in interfaith relationships and serves as a voluntary police chaplain in Hamtramck. She was the founding leader in 2006 of the Hamtramck Community Initiative, which continues to focus on positive community & police relations.

She has volunteered with the Detroit Hamtramck Coalition for Advancing Healthy Environment since 2016,

advocating for environmental justice, especially improved public health outcomes by holding industry accountable for pollution. Rev. Sharon Buttry is married to Rev. Dr. Daniel Buttry, retired Global Consultant for Peace and Justice, International Ministries, American Baptist Churches. They live in a house they rescued from blight in Hamtramck, Michigan, known as Hopewell House, where they mentor ministry leaders, house asylum seekers, and are caregivers for their granddaughter Liliana. They are parents of three adult children and three grandchildren, residing in Michigan and Texas. Rev. Buttry’s interests include gardening, painting, and taking people on tours

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