HOMETOWN HELPERS: Cleaning woman at NYC’s One World Trade Center takes great pride in her work at Freedom Tower-turned-ghost town during coronavirus pandemic

Magdelena Ostrowska, 41, of Queens, is a shop steward for the union cleaners still working inside One World Trade Center.
Magdelena Ostrowska, 41, of Queens, is a shop steward for the union cleaners still working inside One World Trade Center.(Courtesy of SEIU 32BJ)

Magdelena Ostrowska feels a surge of pride each morning when she walks into work at One World Trade Center.
The 102-story tower remains eerily silent as she takes the elevator to the 64th floor, where she cleans and disinfects the elevator banks — one of the three vacant floors under her watch. But the daily effort, a 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift to keep the skyscraper spick and span for its absent tenants, remains a labor of love.
“For me, I feel like a little hero,” the 41-year-old Polish immigrant says. “I can’t compare myself to the NYPD, but I feel a little like them every day when I travel to work. It’s pretty awesome.”
Despite the empty offices, the work continues on three shifts for Ostrowska and her colleagues. The workers keep everything disinfected, from the desks to the phones to the floors to the bathrooms, so the symbolic building known as the Freedom Tower is ready to reopen quickly once the pandemic ends.
The mother of two, who began work at the Trade Center in October 2017, also serves as shop steward for her colleagues in 32BJ Service Employees International Union. As the crazy days of the COVID-19 crisis turn into weeks, she serves as both a sounding board and a reassuring presence for her colleagues.
Parts of the Oculus, left, One World Trade Center, center, and 7 World Trade Center are seen from street level.
Parts of the Oculus, left, One World Trade Center, center, and 7 World Trade Center are seen from street level.(Kathy Willens/AP)
Her message is simple for everybody working inside the 1,776-foot glass tower: Stay positive, stay safe — and stay 6 feet apart.
“I try to keep everyone in good shape and in a good mood,” she said. “I sent two people home with underlying health issues. I tell everyone, ‘If you’re young and healthy, show up at work.’ We have to be there. I want to show my people whatever is going to happen will happen — so keep up a good attitude.”
Ostrowska’s husband drives her to work in the morning through the mostly empty route from Queens to lower Manhattan, and returns to take her home each afternoon. The door-to-door service is only possible because he was laid off from his job two weeks ago.
Once home each afternoon, Ostrowska devotes a portion of her free time to helping out her sister, the mother of a three-week-old baby. Ostrowska, who drops off supplies, has only made the baby’s acquaintance through the front door of her sister’s place.

Though she tries to remain upbeat, there are times when it’s hard not to think about the deadly virus that emptied her massive workplace. The elevators still go from the basement to the top in 47 seconds, but not much else is the same.

“It’s weird,” she acknowledged. “The building was always full of people of all kinds, and right now it’s pretty scary. Am I worried? Of course.”

The fear is not enough to keep her from showing up each morning, grabbing her supplies and getting to work.

“I do kind of like it,” said Ostrowska, putting a typically cheery spin on things. “Time flies real fast. And I think positive things.”

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