Submitted photoRev. WilliamApperson, left, and his wife, Jo Ann, along with custodian Jimmy Jackson get ready for the Kentucky Ham Meal at First Christian Church in the early years. The Appersons founded the meal in 1963 as a fundraiser.

A call for help and Kentucky roots has become a 54-year fundraising tradition that continues Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 7-8.

“Kentucky Ham Meal” organizers at First Christian Church in Meridian will be frying ham and serving up piping hot biscuits, this year in memory of Jo Ann Apperson, who died in November. She was one of the founders along with her husband, the Rev. William Apperson.

“My father came to First Christian Church from Henderson, Ky. and served the church for 33 years from 1962 to 1995,” daughter Ann Apperson Compton said. “The congregation of his church and the city of Henderson thought he had lost his mind moving his family to Mississippi in the turbulent ’60s.”

In 1963, the tradition of the Kentucky Ham Meal began when an appeal went out to the Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) to help in modernizing Jackman Memorial Hospital in Bilaspur, India, Compton said.

“Since my dad was from Kentucky, and looking for something unique to raise some money, Mama and Daddy came up with the idea to make a trip to Kentucky to get some hams,” Compton said. “There were two other couples in the church, Ed and Edith Brown and Ross and Anise Acree whose roots were in Kentucky, also.”

Apperson recalled she was 6 and her sister Amy was 9 when their parents loaded up the 1960 Buick LaSabre to make the first of many treks to Mayfield, Ky. to pick up hams.

“We packed very lightly to save room for the hams, but we made sure there was room for tire chains just in case it snowed,” Compton said. “My mother was an only child and my daddy had promised her daddy when he accepted the call to Meridian, he would always have mama home for Christmas. It was going to be a quick trip because picking up hams was our only mission.”

Compton remembers the grocery store – Youngbloods, where they bought the 2-year-old salt cured hams – a true Kentucky delicacy my mama and daddy grew up eating, she said.

“Odd things stand out in your mind when you are young and I remember when we went to Youngbloods to load the hams,” Compton said. “Mr. Youngblood came out with the nastiest apron on and he called my daddy Willie, I thought that was funny. Men, all with nasty aprons loaded about 60 pounds of ham in the car anywhere they could find a spot.

“My sister and I road from Mayfield to Meridian, which was a good nine hours, with hams under our feet, between us and behind our heads in the back window. The next year we did the same, but the pounds of ham had increased.”

The event grew and on the fourth trip, Compton said, Mac Parker a member of the church offered his station wagon.

“By then, our family had a dog and we didn’t go anywhere without her, so she rode in the back on top of those hams with her tongue hanging out salivating and sniffing the whole trip home,” Compton said. “A few years later the event outgrew the station wagon and the Youngbloods had the hams shipped by bus.

“And now you know the rest of the story.”

Money raised at Kentucky Ham Meals has gone to missions, current pastor Mark Benson said. This year, proceeds are supporting the Boys and Girls Club, Care Lodge, East Mississippi State Hospital Child Activity Program, the Laurie Autry Fund for Special Needs Children, L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, Multi-County Community Agency, American Red Cross-Key Chapter Hope Village, Anderson Regional Cancer Center Benevolent and Discretionary Fund, Southern Christian Services, and Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital.

“We deeply appreciate how the community has supported the meal through the years, but it’s also about fellowship,” Benson said. “People in our congregation, along with people who volunteer from the community talk about what a wonderful experience it is to work side-by-side with others.

“It is simply one of those ministries that a church tries and that has worked – we are very proud of the Kentucky Ham Meal and look forward to this year’s experience.”

Our congregation sees this as “our mission” and a way to give back to the community said Kentucky Ham Meal co-chair Lisa Watson.

“As co-chair, I am thankful for everyone who volunteers,” Watson said. “We have fun as a church family, and it’s a great time to enjoy the company of other church members. Without the commitment of our congregation, this event would never be as successful as it has been.

“Last year, the bad weather ( the tornado that struck Collinsville) affected our turnout but we are hoping this year will compare to years prior when we were very busy.”

Donations both monetary and supplies – decrease expenses that help to increase the amount of money that is donated to those in need.

“Some people might not have time to take off work to actually work during the event, but they help out in other ways by making donations of food items or supplies that are used for the ham meal,” Watson said. It’s truly a great effort, and a tradition that we hope to continue for many years to come.”

If You Go

• The meal will be held at the church, 23rd Avenue at 13th Street, 6:30- a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

• Tickets are $8 and may be purchased at the door the day of the event, or in advance by calling the church office at (601) 693-1425. The menu still includes ham, red-eye gravy, grits, scrambled eggs, homemade biscuits, homemade preserves, and coffee.

• Carry-outs are also available. A drive thru is provided on 13th Street – between the church and the Merritt house, which houses the church offices. Large orders (5 or more) can be called in before picking up, and delivery is available for orders of 10 or more.

The Numbers

• 2,500 meals were served in the two-day period last year with the breakdown of food used and consumed as follows:

• 1,000 pound of Kentucky Ham.

• 500 pounds of flour.

• 300 sticks Crisco shortening.

• 40 gallons of buttermilk (as 12,000-14,000 biscuits have been made in busiest years).

• 6,000 butter singles

• 200 pounds of grits.

• 728 dozen eggs.

• 4,000 jelly packs; plus many pints of homemade jelly and preserves.