James Glass gives and receives love

The sayings of James Glass are well-documented throughout the Carolina Housing community.

One is about love.

“If you say you love someone, back it up with your actions. You got to show it,” he says.

Love and appreciation in abundance are what the people who nominated the housekeeping crew leader for a Massey Award expressed for him, his work and his interactions with staff and students. Glass supervises 14 people who clean four residence halls — Connor, Joyner, Winston and Alexander. He’s worked at Carolina since late 2005.

Students and staff call him “Mr. James.” The nominations call him “a role model, a leader and a friend to all” who creates a sense of home for the Connor Community. His steady, genuine kindness has a bigger effect than Glass realizes, one person wrote.

Glass is like everyone’s favorite uncle.  He greets them all, staff and students alike, and can tell when they’re happy or struggling. Students will seek him out. “Sometimes, I’ll be working, and they just come up and stand near me until I notice them. They want to talk,” he said.

“The best part about the job is taking care of the kids, making sure that we respect each other and that we understand each other,” Glass said, but “cleaning is No. 1. We’re going to make sure this place is sanitary and ready to go.”

A typical day 

Glass usually gets his crew’s day off to a good start because the day before he restocked supplies, making sure each crew member got a blue recycling bin filled with cleaning products and cloths.

After clocking in and heading to Connor, he checks in with crew members as they prepare for the day’s work of cleaning bathrooms, restocking, emptying trash and making building lobbies sparkle. Sometimes, Glass takes the place of a crew member who’s out or helps with tasks.

“You can’t be a leader riding in the back seat,” he said.

Though he doesn’t come across as a perfectionist, his approach to the job confirms that he is. If he sees a deficiency in any building, he takes the crew member aside and talks about it.

Finding family 

Glass grew up in Roxboro, North Carolina, and left home at age 12. Since those hard times, he’s built family of all sorts — his own, at church and the thousands of students he’s looked after for two decades.

There’s his wife, Denise, their two sons, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren with the sixth due in September. And his puppy, Chance.

His church family is at Allen’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Prospect Hill, just north of Hillsborough. “They’re part of what I am now. People there helped me get through what I needed to get through,” he said.

Growing his Carolina family took time. After years in a furniture factory working with older adults, he learned to recognize when students were struggling emotionally. He starts with little statements — have a good day, it’s cold outside so you’ll need a jacket, flip-flops might be slippery because it’s raining. Then, he may ask, “How’s your day going?” If the problem seems deep, Glass will suggest talking with a resident adviser.

Despite his outgoing personality, Glass sees value in quiet times. “If you want an answer, you have to be quiet and listen,” he said.

“I love going home, getting a cold Arnold Palmer, letting my dog out and sitting on the back porch,” he said. That’s where this hard-working, loving man re-energizes in the quiet.