In December 1999, the Anchorage Zen Community received a call from an inmate at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center asking if someone could come to teach meditation. On December 28, 1999, Karen Laing and Judith Haggar made their first visit to HMCC.
Since that day we have had many volunteers who have gone through the orientation process and two times a month, or more, driven through all kinds of weather to visit the women of Hiland Mountain and share our practice of zazen.
Nineteen years later on January 4, 2019, a group of the inmates presented Judith Haggar with a quilt made at Hiland Mountain and a certificate of appreciation in gratitude for her 19 years of volunteering.
On January 3, 2020, Judith began her 21st year of volunteering, and as always she is joined in this practice by others. Besides Judith, Cindy Schraer (14 years!), Kirby Kauffman (5 years) and Meredith LaValley (since August of 2019) are part of the Hiland Mountain volunteers.
Sometimes there is one inmate present, sometimes many more, but each time we go we are enriched by the experience of sharing our practice with the women of Hiland Mountain.
We welcome new volunteers! There is a background check process and training by Department of Corrections required; if you are interested in being a religious volunteer with Anchorage Zen Community or finding out more about it, please contact zen@alaska-zen.org