A timeless tradition, grounded in giving and grace BY KATHERINE WHITFIELD BAKER
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said Associate Pastor Ed Norton, who has served within the IPC community for 25 years. “The IPC Christmas baskets are tangible evidence of our love for Memphis, and I love seeing the Body of Christ come together each year to participate in this ministry as we seek the peace and prosperity of the city.”
“IPC exists to worship Our Father in Heaven and to clearly communicate his truths of the Gospel to our city and the world,”
In fact, the food baskets ministry has been bringing people of all ages and abilities together for more than 35 years now, serving as a sign of the Christmas season for IPC and for the families blessed through the church’s ministry partners—Streets Ministries, Neighborhood Christian Center, and Palmer Home for Children. Begun in 1985 by members Anne Seiler and George Merriam, IPC’s food basket program served approximately 20 families in its inaugural year. Church members were encouraged to bring food from home to fill a handful of boxes lining the hallway near the
From 20 to 1,200 Fed
Photo by Wess Bramlitt
ew can seem to recall when the Christmas food baskets program began. Certainly, there are ballpark estimates and solid conjectures—around 30 years ago, say, or sometime in the mid-80s—but for many Independent Presbyterian Church parishioners, it seems difficult to remember a time when the food baskets ministry was not an integral part of the church’s DNA. Like so many time-honored traditions, particularly those rooted in the Christmas season, the annual food basket ministry seems like something that has always been in existence, baked into the ethos of IPC as a physical extension of the church’s mission to be “A New People for a New Memphis.”
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Noelle Douglass and Halley Williams, along with husbands Gene and Ford, have assumed the leadership helm of IPC’s Christmas basket ministry from long-time chairs Kathy and Bob Garrett and Sam and Matt Olson.
