In 1993, the Northeast District of Association of Gospel Rescue Missions (AGRM), under the leadership of Reverend Perry Jones, Executive Director of the Capital City Rescue Mission in Albany, New York, identified the need for a rescue mission in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

A committee from the AGRM met with three local pastors, David McIntyre of Calvary Evangelical Free Church, Trumbull, David DeVries of Trinity Baptist Church, Fairfield, and Stan Allaby of Black Rock Congregational Church, to discuss the possibility of starting a rescue mission in Bridgeport. It was determined that there was sufficient interest and support among the local churches to initiate the effort. The next step was to find a person willing to take on the challenge of founding a rescue mission.

Reverend Jim Watson and his wife, Tammy, were at home in West Virginia watching a news report about the gangs, crime and drugs that pervaded the City of Bridgeport. They later shared that a vision began in their hearts during that heartbreaking news report.

The City of Bridgeport was in crisis during the early 1990s. Violent crime was at an all time high, and local gangs controlled the streets. Shortly after he and his family came to Bridgeport, Jim Watson was quoted as saying; “ I had never been so frightened in all my life. Gangs, guns, drugs, and prostitutes threatened to destroy my ministry, my future and my life. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that I would have to face down a deadly gang, put my life on the line and risk my family’s safety to start a rescue mission in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Bridgeport, Connecticut.”

Reverend Watson was the first Executive Director of the Bridgeport Rescue Mission. Reverend Mickey Kalman followed him. Mr. David McKenna served as Interim Director for six months. The current Executive Director, Reverend Terry Wilcox, assumed the position of Executive Director on January 1, 2002.

The Mission occupies the building of the former Fanny Crosby Memorial Home on Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport. Since 1923 this building has been a refuge for the poor and downtrodden in the greater Bridgeport area.

Fanny Crosby, who was blinded at six years of age, was a noted hymn writer credited with writing more than 10,000 hymns, left instructions that her estate was to be used to provide shelter to elderly poor people.

Bridgeport Rescue Mission strives to continue Fanny Crosby’s tradition of compassion and caring for those in need in Bridgeport today.

The Mission of the Bridgeport Rescue Mission
The Bridgeport Rescue Mission works to meet the basic needs of the poor, homeless and disenfranchised in the Greater Bridgeport area, by providing food, clothing and shelter.

The Mission also seeks to provide a safe, caring environment in which people can work on recovering from addictions and behaviors that have ruined their lives. We do this in the name of Jesus Christ, at no cost to the individual.

More Information
To learn more about the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, please visit other pages of our website or e-mail your questions to: generalmailbox@bridgeportrescuemission.org.