with Faustino Amador
Faustino Amador
Born:
Danli, Honduras. Came to the United States in 1993 and resides in Jersey
City.
Education:
Graduated from Ido High School in Honduras
Family:
Wife, Maria, and two children, son. Joshua 15; and daugther, Ludin 9.
Favorite spare-time activities:
Spending time with family;
Weekend trips to New York;
Seeing action movies
Faustino Amador of Physical Plant--Housekeeping is hard at work well
before the average person gets out of bed. Arriving in College Hall at
the brisk hour of 3:30 a.m., Faustino sets out on a mission to get the
halls, offices and restrooms clean and ready for the activity that will
begin in five short hours.
"To get here on time I leave my house at 2:45 a.m.," said Faustino,
"but I don’t mind because the people who work here are nice
and that makes me value my job more. I appreciate them saying 'good morning'
as I'm cleaning their offices and hallways."
Faustino is as committed to safekeeping as he is to housekeeping. Six
months ago, he found a wallet in a desk while cleaning a classroom. It
contained $300 in cash, credit cards and, luckily for the owner, identification.
Faustino immediately notified University police. The owner, a student,
was contacted and extremely grateful to Faustino for returning the wallet
and its contents.
"She didn’t speak much English," Faustino recalled. "All
she could say was 'thank you' over and over." Realizing that another
person may not have been so honest, the student offered Faustino a reward,
but he refused. "Returning the wallet was just part of my job,"
he said. "I would never think of keeping it."
This is not the first time Faustino, who has been at Montclair State a
little over a year, found himself in this situation. As a maintenance
worker at the Journal Square PATH station, he found an expensive coat
with $175 cash in the pocket. Although he had recently arrived in America
from Danli, Honduras, had no medical benefits and was the sole support
of his wife, Maria, and two children, Joshua and Ludin, he knew the right
thing to do. "Although I needed the money, it wasn't mine to keep."
The coat and money eventually were returned to their rightful owner.
Faustino knows his decisions are not always popular. "My co-workers
were mad at me for turning the coat over to the police,” he said.
Nonetheless, there are others who are thankful for his solid work ethic,
such as Judith Hain, vice president for Human Resources. She sent a letter
to Faustino praising his actions for returning the wallet.
"I was very impressed to hear of Faustino's good deed," she
said. "It left such an impression on me that I had to let him know
how much his honesty and integrity are appreciated. You don’t come
across people like him every day."
Many of Faustino's friends agree, particularly Margarita Acevedo, who
works with him in College Hall. She summed up her colleague in eight words:
"A friendly, funny person with a good heart."