Janitor share struggles, FC journey

Mop in hand, cart close behind, John Niño works down the stalls. Niño wipes the seat, washes the bowl, finishing with the sinks. He finishes the boys restroom and moves to the girl’s lavatory each and every school day. Today, janitors are honored during National Custodian Day.

Niño started a job as custodian at the school and shares why he became a custodian two years ago and became a Christian 20 years ago.

“I really want to help out the kids,” Niño said. “I used to be a machine operator, a machinist, and I had to use my eyesight a lot – because of the measurements and all that. So when I started losing my eyesight, I said to myself, ‘I better start looking for another job.’ God’s been good to me.”

Appreciative of the work they do, Riley Goldsborough, ‘21, offers his opinion on the work of campus janitors and custodians.

“Of course their job is to clean up stuff,” Goldsborough said. “I think without them, it’d be pretty rough on campus. They really keep it nice for all the students, and a lot of the time, we don’t think to thank them, and we don’t treat them like we should. I think it’d be cool to have a janitor appreciation day, where we thank them for all they do, and help them out, too.”

Tyrone Clayton had his first custodial job when he was 16. He worked as a janitor at Fresno Community Hospital for five years, and worked at WeatherTech for another three. He started work on the Fresno Christian campus 13 years ago.

“I like cleaning, I like keeping places clean,” Clayton said. “I’m proud of my work, and I like seeing the finished job, the before and after. Here at Fresno Christian, God’s moved in my life for the better. In the last couple years, I lost my mom and my brother – my brother died at a young age. Just being here, with the support from everyone, it’s awesome.”

Besides worship team and music in general, Andrew Moore, ‘21, loves serving at his church. He explains the importance of janitors and custodians from his perspective.

“Sad enough as it is,” Moore said, “Our generation hasn’t really been known for taking care of things they leave. It tends to be that we leave stuff lying around because, ‘Oh, it’s the janitor’s job to pick it up’ and that’s really disrespectful. We’re not here to make the world worse by leaving our trash around, we’re here to improve it by picking it up and putting it away.”

Having worked with the janitors on staff for five years now, Superintendent Jeremy Brown is thankful for the janitorial staff’s effort in maintaining campus facilities.

“The significance is that nothing could stand without them,” Superintendent Brown said. “Some people look at custodians as what they do, but what makes our group so special is how they do it. They are as much a minister as every teacher on this campus, as myself; and if you notice how they do things, they do them understanding the importance that without them, we couldn’t do things.”

Brown became a Believer in Jesus Christ in 1986, when he was 15 years old. He loves working side by side with any and every janitor on campus in projects. He goes on to say how the custodians affect even time in the classrooms.

“They make it so our teachers can focus on teaching,” Brown said. “Which is our main mission here: to equip students for life and service to Jesus Christ. They have a special heart for people, and really, their service is the reason why we’re able to do the things we do. I don’t even want to think about what we would do without them, because we couldn’t do it.”

Most people take janitors for granted. What do you appreciate about custodians? Leave a comment below.

For more articles on custodians, read Teens disrespect figures of authority. For more feature articles, read See You At The Pole unites local youth ministries.

David Tuck can be reached via Twitter and via email.