St Thomas the Apostle Thrift Shop, 208 East Ave, Norwalk, CT 06855, US

Southport Congregational Church, one of two churches in the town's Southport neighborhood, was officially organized and dedicated in 1843, a year after the parish built a wooden meeting house on Pequot Avenue land that has been home to the church from its inception. By 1871, the congregation had outgrown its original building and decided to build a new one. By 1876, the congregation was worshipping in the present church building. In 1955, the congregation decided to raise money to build a new church school wing, chapel and library, and, after breaking ground in September 1956, those facilities were finished in early 1958. In 2004, the congregation voted to raise money to add four new classrooms, a youth room, staff offices and renovate the Carousel, which is the church's thrift shop. The Rev. Paul D. Whitmore is the 12th senior pastor at the church and became its senior pastor in 1994. Adult ministries at the church include Monday Morning Bible Study, Thursday Morning Men's Group, Thursday Women's Lunch Bunch, Prayer Partners and the Caring Team, which provides meals, transportation to and from doctors' offices and home visits. Youth ministries and activities include Junior Youth Group, Senior High Youth Group, Junior Deacons, the Cherub Choir, Junior Choir and Teen Choir, and Sunday Scramblers, a Sunday morning program for children in first- through eighth grades that involves workshops on Bible stories. Missions supported by Southport Congregational Church include Alpha Community Services, Andover Newton Theological School, Bridgeport Council of Churches, Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Builders Beyond Borders, Center for Women and Families, Eagle Hill Scholarship Fund, Emerge, Grasmere Eldercare Center, Habitat for Humanity, Horizons, Janus House, Kennedy Center, Missionary Society of Connecticut, National Council of Churches, Operation Hope, Project Learn, Prospect House, Simply Smiles, St. George's Community Supper, United Visiting Nurse Services, World Council of Churches and Yale Divinity School. Southport Congregational Church, which has a preschool, describes itself as a warm and welcoming community of people who want to encourage and cultivate the abundance of love, life, comfort, peace, health, joy and meaning that God desires for us all and that each person is called by God to minister to one another and the world.

Room to Grow Child Care Program

Diocese of Bridgeport

Catholic Family Services