Dear Friends, Welcome to May! Hopefully we will have a lot of flowers after our April rain and snow! Daffodils bloomed profusely in April. The lilacs, particularly, do well in Pine Mountain and are celebrated with a parade and festival here in the middle of the month. At last, this community is out of drought conditions! The Buddha's birth, liberation, and passing that all occurred on the full moon of May are celebrated even today. For Buddhists, this is called the Festival of Wesak. The month of May concludes with Memorial Day where we remember Americans killed in battle. May we continue to pray for peace and harmony so that fewer people will need to be added to the Memorial Day list! Let hardened hearts everywhere begin to open and evolve. CENTER ACTIVITIES For the WZM Award for Compassion Scholarships, Garfield High School in East Los Angeles sent in 23 essays. Nineteen of these essays had the required paperwork. On April 30, Sandy Ryan, Patric Hedlund, and Ruth read through the 19 essays over a few hours and picked 5 winners! It was difficult to choose as many of the essays were quite meaningful. For the cost of $350 each, the Center's fundraisers helped, along with generous donors, and the beloved Pine Mountain Meditation Club that will pay the cost of one essay winner from the donations received at the weekly meetings! Regular meditations continue at the Jizo Peace Center, especially at 11:00 am on Saturdays. The Center will host the monthly Mountain Healing Circle on May 8. There is a plan to fly the huge Peace Dove again on May 18 at the Lilac Festival Parade - this requires the help of 4 people.     PINE MOUNTAIN MEDITATION CLUB The PMMC meets every Monday at noon in the Clubhouse Condor Room. All 6 leaders are now healed and back to serving (see attached photo) Please join us when you can! The leaders take turns sitting out a month as there are usually only 4 Mondays in a month. May leaders are: May 6 - Chris May 13 - SunJay May 20 - Natalie May 27 - Chica   AARP TUTORING PROGRAM THROUGH PARENTIS FOUNDATION These are the last weeks of tutoring. The two students Ruth mentors have gained much self-confidence over the past year. It was recently discovered that the best reader of the two has rather poor comprehension.... Sigh. More focused work on comprehension ahead.   ANANDA ASHRAMA In a beautiful setting of over 100 acres high in the hills above Los Angeles, this Temple and Retreat Center remains awe inspiring even after 100 years of existence. All are welcome to attend. Ruth will be giving the services on May 26 and May 30.       SPONSOR? If you are interested in being a sponsor for Jizo Peace Center programs such as the Compassion Scholarships, Ruth would love to talk to you or your organization! The Jizo Peace Center wishes blessing and peace to all!   HUMANITARIAN AWARD PICTURES Pictures of the July Award Ceremony for Lynne Shane are now are here. We are so glad that a number of people came forward to give testimonials about how much Lynne helped them in life! She is truly an inspiration.     WZM Awards in the Mountain Enterprise Compliments of The Mountain Enterprise