Sustaining an epic outreach meal

Published 4:34 am Sunday, February 8, 2026

“May this food restore our strength, giving new energy to tired limbs, new thoughts to weary minds.”

 

–From a traditional Irish table blessing

 

Members of First Christian Church in downtown Meridian, joined by a giant collection of friends, have been hamming it up this week.

As in, producing and enjoying the latest Kentucky Ham Meal, a remarkable yearly event launched more than six decades ago by then-FCC Pastor William Apperson and his wife Jo Ann, with lots of church help.

Having relocated their family to Meridian from Kentucky, the Appersons were community-minded and well aware of how enticing a homestyle ham-and-eggs meal could be.

The ultimate comfort food—and for a good cause.

The first Kentucky Ham Meal was a novel way of generating donations for equipment at a hospital in India supported by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination.

Ann Apperson Compton, daughter of Will and Jo Ann, at the age of six traveled with her parents in a Buick sedan as they drove to Graves County, in southwest Kentucky – using tire chains in snow-covered stretches – to secure the celebrated first batch of cured ham.

“It was a delicacy back then, something totally different,” said Compton, a longtime Meridian resident. “It hasn’t changed, really.”

As a fundraising program, the Kentucky Ham Meal has evolved into a way of supporting about 10 local charities, including Care Lodge, Love’s Kitchen, Hope Village for Children and Wesley House, as well as church camp scholarships.

The two-day event now generates about $20,000 for charities, after expenses, through the purchase of more than 2,000 meals, which include ham slices, red-eye gravy, scrambled eggs and homemade biscuits. Ticket-holders can dine in the church’s fellowship hall or use a drive-through pickup. Media attention for the meal, which is served at wide-ranging hours, tends to be generous.

Referring to community relationships enhanced by the event, the Rev. Mark Benson, FCC’s current pastor, said, “It has a long reach.”

Longtime FCC member Mary Gilmore has chaired the Kentucky Ham event for nearly a decade, and another loyal member, Donna Sprabery, expects to assume that challenging role in the future. “Participating in this allows (church members) to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” Sprabery said.

As First Christian members, my wife and I pitch in (she helps prepare biscuits, I’ve been an egg-scrambler), but I’d write about this meal even if we weren’t involved. This uninterrupted tradition is one of Meridian’s finest.

The meal gathering is just what we need, it seems, as a counter to isolation and social-media noise, bringing family and friends together for good conversation.

The event demonstrates that church members can still respond to an “all hands on deck” sort of appeal for volunteers. (They are assisted by young volunteers from the Meridian Naval Air Station, many thanks to them.) And it offers an opportunity for connecting with people around Meridian who otherwise might never step inside this landmark church building, now nearly a century old.

One of the meal’s best features is how it offers generational bridges, stirring appreciation for past efforts, by the Appersons and many others.

One of this week’s volunteers, serving in the fellowship hall, was Dave Owen, who isn’t a member of this church. Owen shows up to honor the memory of his grandmother, Marie Owen, a former longtime FCC member who was the source of the event’s biscuit recipe – and made biscuits for the meal for 44 years.

“It makes me kind of feel good to come here, hang out,” the adult grandson said. “This was a big, big deal to her.”

Coleman Warner is a journalist and cultural historian, and can be contacted at legacypress.warner@gmail.com