It was 62 years ago when First Christian Church’s William Apperson and his wife, Jo Ann, received information about fundraising efforts in Kentucky for a hospital in India. The couple took the “Kentucky” part and ran with it, organizing a small meal of Kentucky sausage to Meridian residents for a donation. It became a yearly tradition that continues today, but it’s now a bigger meal and for a lot more people. A whole lot more.

“We make 10,000 homemade biscuits for 2,500 meals,” the church’s pastor, Mark Benson said Tuesday. The church provides five meals total – three on the first Tuesday of February and two on the next Wednesday – each year to raise funds, which now goes to support local charities.

 

“In the beginning, it was a small meal to raise some money for the hospital, but it became a tradition for our church to do it annually,” Benson said. “It’s become what our church is known for, and we look forward to it every year.”

 

Each year, the church offers takeout, as well as dine in, for the $12 meals. Benson said in addition to all those biscuits, church members cook up 700 pounds of Kentucky country sausage and a load of grits and scrambled eggs, as well a homemade red-eye gravy.

Charities that benefit from the event include the Boys and Girls clubs, L.O.V.E.’S. Kitchen, the Southern Christian Service for Children and Youth in Jackson, scholarships for children to attend summer church camp, the Laurie M. Autry Memorial Fund for special needs children, Hope Village, the Benevolent Fund at Baptist Anderson Cancer Center, the Freedom Project educational programs for children and Care Lodge.

 

“The community knows this meal is offered in support of good causes,” Benson added. “We feel really good as a church about how it allows us to serve as the hands and feet of Christ. It’s a good feeling for us all by helping local charities through community efforts like this one.”