SOON AFTER Coreen Harty started working as a volunteer mentor for the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center in October last year, she learned that the inmates enjoyed playing chess.

Officers of Local 1553 are: Standing, from left: Terrie Roberts, secretary; Amie Swenson, president; Deanna Walter, sergeant at arms; Michealanne O’Neill, vice-president; Coreen Harty, and treasurer. Sitting: Wanda Clark, chief shop steward

“The juveniles told me about a chess competition that they have at 8 p.m. after their evening snack,” she explains. “But they said that although many wanted to play, they had only two chess sets and so most of them could not do so.”

That set Harty — who is Local 1553 Treasurer and a Genetic Testing Coordinator with the Spokane County Prosecutors Office — thinking of ways that she could help.

After all, it was not for nothing that she had been named “The Nicest Person in the State” for 2002 by the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.

So Harty spoke with Darryl Robinson, a juvenile detention officer and member of Local 492J, who had taught the inmates how to play chess. He told Harty that they were trying to form a team to take part in tournaments, but did not have enough sets to do so.

He said they would need 10 to 12 sets to enable most of them to play in the evenings and also to take part in tournaments.

“The sets that were needed were not inexpensive chess sets you can pick up at most stores, but special competition sets that have clocks to time the plays and so on,” Harty says.

Harty approached the Local 1553 executive board and suggested that they try to raise money for the sets.

They raised $500 as a Christmas project and bought 11 sets. When Harty delivered them, she took 10 dozen cookies baked by employees in the Prosecutors Family Law Office who are members of Local 1553 and 1553PA. “The kids were very thankful as home-made things are a rarity for them,” Harty says.

The inmates were so grateful they drew a large “thank you” card, which they presented to the Local.

“They tell me now how good they are all getting at chess,” Harty says. “They are trying to teach me to play, too. But I am not doing very well.”

Harty recommends serving as a mentor to juvenile inmates as a “real eye opener to what our kids see as the world they live in.” Call Council 2 offices in Spokane at 1-800-932-4850 for more information.