This year marks 59 years that First Christian Church in Meridian has been frying ham and serving up piping hot biscuits at its annual Kentucky Ham Meal.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meal was cancelled last year for the first time since it started in 1963.

Church member Mary Gilmore said the goal this year is to serve more than 2,500 people.

Gilmore says supporting the event is important because all the proceeds go back to the community. Plus, it serves as a homecoming for those who’ve been attending for many years, some since the beginning, she said.

“When you come and eat in the dining room, you can gather and see those you haven’t seen for awhile, plus new people enjoy it too,” Gilmore said. “It’s also a nice experience for those of us who work here.”

Gilmore said she’s been helping with the meal for 40 years and now her children and grandchildren are pitching in. 

“We’ve had five generations of Gilmores who have worked on the project,” Gilmore said. “I think different ages working side-by-side is so satisfying. We all have the same goal to help our community and keep the tradition going.”

Even more impressive than the amount of ham that is fried and the meals that are served is the number of organizations and causes which benefit from proceeds from the annual event.  In addition to the overall Disciple Mission Fund, proceeds from the fundraiser benefit the following organizations and causes: The Boys and Girls Club of East Mississippi, Care Lodge, East Mississippi State Hospital Child Activity Programs, Laurie Autry Fund, L.O.V.E’s Kitchen, Multi-County Community Agency, American Red Cross-Key Chapter, Scholarship for Hope Village (in memory of Annie Kate Ward), Jeff Anderson Regional Cancer Center Benevolence Fund, Jeff Anderson Regional Cancer Center Discretionary Fund, Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital and the First Christian Church Men’s Program.

If you go:

• The meal will be held at the church at 23rd Ave. 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 $10 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 includes ham, red-eye gravy, grits, scrambled eggs, homemade biscuits, homemade preserves, and coffee or juice.

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

The numbers in previous years:

• 1,000 pounds of Kentucky Ham.

• 500 pounds of flour.

• 300 sticks of 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.

The beginning:

The tradition of the meal began in 1963 as a call for help. An appeal went went out to the Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) to help in modernizing Jackman Memorial Hospital in Bilaspur, India.

Wanting to respond to the need, FCC of Meridian’s Christian Women’s Fellowship decided to sponsor a fundraiser. At the suggestion of Dr. and Mrs. Apperson, who had come to the Meridian church the previous year, the first Kentucky Ham Breakfast was organized.

The Appersons traveled to Kentucky and purchased 60 pounds of Kentucky cured hams and brought them back in the trunk of their car for the first breakfast. Almost $600 was raised for an offering sent to the Jackman Hospital that year.

Fifty-nine years later, the amount of ham purchased has increased to more than 800 pounds. Almost 3,000 supporters are now being served and serving times has increased to two days, and it is now called the Kentucky Ham Meal. Men and youth as well as friends outside of FCC also lend a hand in what has evolved into a community wide event.