On Angels Wings
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each store, making several bank runs a
week among other tasks and service.
This army of volunteers are the heroes
of this ministry.
The ministry of the Alpine Angels’
thrift stores reaches even beyond
the campers and projects at Alpine.
Both stores are community oriented.
The volunteers help connect people
with items they need both in the store
and for the greater community: they
give away mattresses, donate car
seats to orphanages in Mexico to be
used as high chairs, donate items to
the Mountain Pregnancy Center, and
send sheets and towels that cannot
be sold to a local rehab center for
men. You just can’t out give God.
In the past 5 years, Alpine Angels
has donated $160,000 to Alpine’s
scholarship funds and $420,000
to facility needs and special
projects that keep the camp
running safe and sound.
Each Angel represents
hours of dedicated service.
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hortly after the Alpine Angels
“took wing,” Marilyn Porter
also had a vision for a gift
shop at Alpine. And in 1983, the
gift shop was born, complete with
a mountain chalet motif designed
by Marilyn and her husband, Tad.
Run by the Angels, they stocked
many gift items, clothing and
books, including a section of
Swedish products and a nook of
Alpine Angels keychains and other
signature Angels products which
they continued to sell for about a
decade.
During the 90’s, The Alpine Gift
shop was renamed “The Branch,”
and was turned over by the Angels
for the camp staff to manage. In
2000, under Julie Johnson’s 17-
year stint as the Branch manager, a
major branching out occurred: the
Coffee Cart was added, and since
then, coffee drinks like “Running
Duck,” “Chocolate Monkey”
and others have become yearly
traditions for some campers. Julie
remembers the daily summer
scene of day camp counselors
with campers trailing behind them
as they helped them pick out
trinkets to bring home as gifts or as
souvenirs.
In recent years, cozy coffee
tables artfully inscribed with
Scripture have been added to
the Branch as well as an outdoor
seating area, each providing space
for conversation and small group
fellowship. Dana Sottile, Alpine’s
current Branch manager since
2012, has added more Alpine
branded clothing and accessories.
Dana’s vision for the Branch is to
be Alpine’s “sweet spot:” a homey,
warm and welcoming place to
buy a treat, create an Alpine
memory and have some restorative
“take-a-load-off” fellowship time.
Next time you visit Alpine,
stop in…the coffee’s on!
ALPINE ATTIC LOCATIONS
2115 Pacific Coast Highway
Lomita, CA 90717
(310) 539-0339
Griffin Plaza
3885 Cochran Street
Simi Valley, CA 93063
(805) 581-0452
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Dana manages the Branch as a
ministry to both campers and staff.
Campers love the independence
of “hanging” at the Branch.