On paper, Daniel Fernandez’s job is simple to the point of mundane: he cleans and moves furniture for events under the auspices of Collins Building Services, Inc. Specifically, he helps maintain the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo. Yet in just two years, he has demonstrated a wider ideal of community and hospitality.

Daniel Fernandez cares for the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

“First thing I do at seven in the morning is set up the second floor for services in the Bronfman Center,” he said. He proceeds floor-by-floor, “cleaning and setting up and organizing everything.” He does the same at Lillian Vernon (a five-story building) and Casa Italiana (four stories), all before lunch. After lunch he does it again, backwards.

“I love it,” he said. “My days go fast.”

Co-workers say he goes far beyond his job description, however. His arrival, “created a culture shift immediately,” said David Rittberg, the Bronfman Center’s director. “He is simply the most committed worker we have. The quality of the state of the building is key.” The energy Fernandez brings “trickles down to me, the rest of the staff, students, funders and philanthropists who care about this building.”

The Greenwich Village buildings are some of the loveliest in New York. Lillian Vernon is a townhouse built in 1836, remodeled by Stanford White. Luminaries like Jonathan Safran Foer and Jonathan Lethem are current writers-in-residence. The busy Bronfman Center has Tiffany windows and intricate teak carvings. The 19th-century Casa Italiana holds lectures, art exhibits and concerts. In all three, rooms may need set-up and clean-up several times a day.

An avid Yankees fan who lives in The Bronx with his fiancée and her young son, Fernandez has always kept a busy schedule. He has worked since he was 15 years old, first with his father at the World Trade Center, then in other custodial jobs.

“Every summer and on vacation I worked hard and I never stopped,” he said.

His mom, a school bus aide, taught him to be polite and respect others, a trait much remarked upon by co-workers.

“He is a virtuous sort of person,” said Adam Soldofsky, the administrative secretary at Lillian Vernon. “He takes a lot of pride in doing his job well. What he seems to value with this job are interactions.”

“I like showing them I care by asking questions,” Fernandez said. “I love to ask questions. If you don’t ask, you don’t know.”

He also likes to solve problems. At the Bronfman Center, it is the director’s job to foster staff harmony, but it was Fernandez, according to Rittberg, who pulled off one of the best team-building exercises ever.

“On his own time he built a flower box and he brought soil,” Rittberg said. “We all got together and did [flower] planting and it was all a ‘Danny thing’. It was his actions that led to an amazing team-building experience.”

A self-described family man, Osmani said getting married to his wife Nazima and having kids motivated him to get a job as a cleaner at Paramount Plaza.

Last winter, Agron Osmani stayed at work until 3:30 a.m. clearing Paramount Plaza of snow. Photo by Janet Lawrence

“It has good pay and its benefits are great. With the kids, for me that is more important than pay,” he said during an interview in the basement office of the 48-story steel and glass building.

Osmani emigrated from Albania in 1986 and now lives on Staten Island. His job, which entails everything from dusting tall shelves to shampooing carpets, can encompass a wide variety of activities.

“There is no ‘most important’ job. Anything they ask me to do, I do. My specialty is everything,” he said with a laugh.

The biggest challenge is when it snows. And that can be pretty often, during a New York City winter.

“Last year’s snowstorm, I stayed until 3:30 in the morning, shoveling, pouring salt,” he said. “When it snows, you can’t just go home, you have to keep up with the snow. And if it goes until 4 in the morning, you stay till 4 in the morning.”

But even the late nights are outweighed by the best parts of the job, Osmani said, like when a tenant thanks him for his work.

Among staff, Osmani is best known as the shop steward, or liaison between the union and his fellow cleaners at 1633 Broadway. In that role, he travels to union rallies and meetings all over the east coast, and once saw Sen. Ted Kennedy speak on immigration issues in Washington, D.C.

Martin Camaj, Osmani’s foreman said, “He’s incredibly hardworking. And he connects the workers with the union very successfully.”

That probably has something to do with the fact that Osmani clearly enjoys his job.

“I like to be involved with the building. I like to talk to the workers,” he said.

Before Osmani came to the United States, he studied law and languages. He speaks English, Albanian and several Yugoslavian languages, and has picked up some Spanish over the years. These skills allow him to communicate with a variety of workers and bring their concerns to the union’s attention.

Rexhep “Reggie” Jaupi, 45, a fellow cleaner said, “You can talk to him. He listens to you.”

Of course, the best days are the weekends, when Osmani gets to encourage his kids with their schoolwork and takes the whole family out to dinner.

“Family first,” he said, “The job is great, but family first.”

“He does a great job for the neighborhood, and I had to let someone know,” she said.

Ali, a nurse who lives in the West Harlem area where Daniels works, couldn’t help but notice the results.

“He’s a great worker. He goes out of his way to help the disabled. Everyone admires him,” she said.

In his spare time, Vernon Daniels volunteers at the historic Metropolitan Baptist Church doing maintenance and repairs. Photo by Karl Crutchfield

For Daniels, the six buildings that run from West 132nd to 135th streets along Amsterdam Avenue are his responsibility, and he works to keep the neighborhood “neat and orderly.” The complex, owned by the West Harlem Group, has four building entrances, seven yards, 26 garbage cans and nearly 800 stairs that require his constant attention. But to Daniels, it isn’t work.

“I’ve got two hands and two legs. Let me do the best I can,” he said. “But it’s the people, the gratitude I get, that makes the difference.”

Although Daniels is an army of one caring for the multiple buildings that sit on both sides of Amsterdam Avenue, he receives praise from tenants. In the two years he’s been on the job, Daniels has never taken a vacation. When he once called out sick, the two men hired to cover for the day bailed on the job before completing the eight-hour shift.

“I feel like it’s a personal responsibility, no one can do it like me,” he said.

He’s probably right. Even with his extensive responsibilities, Daniels still finds time to care for the elderly and disabled as carefully as he does the buildings they live in.

“I take time to talk to the older people, some days I know I’m the only one they’ll have a chance to talk to,” he said.

Daniels often helps with groceries and packages, providing service and attention usually found in doorman buildings. He’s even been known to do an errand or two. He tells the tenants, “If you can’t get out, just call me and I’ll pick it up on my break.” His reasons for helping are simple: “That’s why God put us on this earth, to help one another.”

Remarkably Daniels, a father of two, still makes time to help his Harlem community in other ways. When his workday ends at 4 p.m., he volunteers at the historic Metropolitan Baptist Church doing maintenance and repairs to the nearly 100-year-old structure, even handing out meals to the homeless when the kitchen is short staffed.

“I love Harlem and try to set a good example for my kids by working hard and showing care to everyone,” Daniels said. “The choices are there. I’ve been blessed, and I want to pass those blessings on.”