THE INTERESTING HISTORY OF THE ALPINE HOUSE AT THE OBERBERG IN PARPAN,
THAT USED TO BELONG TO THE "VBG" AND NOW IS CALLED "SCHALOM"
(German spelling for the English Shalom).

In the years 1960 till 1962 the alpine house has been built by numerous volunteers under the leadership of the architect Kurt Hutter from Stäfa near Zürich. It should be a house, in which young people could spend valuable time in the mountains and think about their life.

The couple Kurt and Lilly Hutter had a good relationship to the christian organization "Vereinigte Bibelgruppen (VBG) in Schule, Universität und Beruf" that in English means "United Bible Groups in school, university and profession"; this organization is related to the international organization "IFES" (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). Based on this they donated the alpine house to VBG in the year 1970.

Various camps took place in the alpine house in the meantime and many people experienced there a close relationship to God. - As VBG got more and more involved in the operation of their vacation and course centers Moscia and Rasa in southern Switzerland, the alpine house in Parpan began to loose its importance.

Since for many years the pastor of the close-by evangelical church "Stadtmission" (meaning "town mission") or SMC had taken care of the house, it was decided to donate the alpine house to this organization in the year 1983.

Continously the house has been improved during the following years and it has been used well for camps and other activities. Therapeutical work for inhabitants of the sheltered accomodation provided by SMC has also been performed in the alpine house.

In the year 1990 several workers terminated their regular cooperation with the alpine house and therefore the administration of it fell into the hands of the board members of the church. However, it could not be a regular task of them; therefore the sale of the house had been considered.

During this period a group of church-members got organized to take over the administration of the alpine house. This postponed the sale of the house for a while. In the years 1993 till 2001 it has been rented again to youth groups as well as to larger families.

However, this group started to deteriorate as time went on. So the assembly of the church members of Stadtmission Chur decided to sell the alpine house in the year 2001.

A number of different options has been examined. Our proposal has been favoured to purchase the house and to continue to rent it to groups that are interested in doing so.

We intend to do this - with some changes - in the manner as it has been done in the past, however, we also want to stay open for new possibilities. This Internet Homepage is a great help in this venture and we are glad that we can trust in all this in receiving the help of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hanspeter und Vreni Wirth-Scholian, Chur.

Revision 19.12.2002