Kimani Gray

If you’ve needed a desk, chair, filing cabinet, bookcase or conference table, you’ve probably had a visit from Kimani Gray.

Gray, supply services coordinator for the Supply and Property Management Unit, is this year’s Supporting Services Employee of the Year, an annual award given by SEIU Local 500.

“The best part of it is you’re bringing supplies to the school,” Gray says. “Everyone is so happy, like, ‘Hey, I’ve been waiting on this.’”

“Sometimes, it’s the simple things, like a chair,” Gray says. “You put a smile on someone’s face like you wouldn’t believe. One day, this lady wanted a cabinet, just a simple cabinet. When I brought it to her, she was ecstatic. ‘Can I hug you? Is it OK?’” He chuckled.

Kevin Soisson, operations manager in the Supply and Property Management Unit, has been working with Gray since he started working with MCPS in 2005. Years ago, he held the job Gray now has. Gray started with MCPS after arriving in 2005 from Jamaica, barely out of his teenage years.

“We had maybe eight or nine guys, and he was far superior,” Soisson said of Gray, then a temporary, part-time (TPT) worker. “He was a go-getter. If it needed to be done, he did it. You didn’t have to show him how to do it. You didn’t have to tell him to do it. He’s one of those people; he gets it done.”

“When it came time to let them go, we kept him and we didn’t want him going anywhere else. We recognized what we had.”

Gray began driving trucks and overseeing crews. He was given more responsibility and special assignments, leading to his current position. What makes Gray stand out, Soisson says, is his patience, flexibility and calm demeanor.

“Sometimes you go on a project and the person doesn’t know what they want,” Gray says. He listens and offers suggestions. Maybe turning a desk one way will offer you more room? Are you sure you want your back facing the office door? 

“They’ll say, ‘Oh, I never thought about that,’” Gray says. “I’ve seen so many configurations; sometimes, I will just tell them, ‘That’s not going to work. Let me show you.’ I’ll rearrange it to what they think they want, and then they’ll say, ‘You’re right. OK.’ They have to see it.”

Summer is the busiest season for Gray and his team. It’s when schools move in and out, offices move and other major projects happen.

Gray handles all requests for new and additional furniture, and keeps up with surplus furniture that is removed, always thinking about where it could be repurposed.

“When COVID-19 hit, we had office buildings all around us calling,” Soisson says. “Offices were closing and they had furniture they weren’t using and wanted to get rid of. People were desperate to get rid of furniture.” In 2021, Gray began receiving tractor trailer loads of it.

He’d separate it all, store it in trailers and catalog it. Gray is also a whiz at repair, skills he learned back home working in carpentry and installing kitchen cabinets, and then honed once he got to MCPS. To this day, he salvages the good and recycles or trashes the rest.

No matter the challenges, Gray said he feels fortunate to be in a job he loves. “You make somebody’s day,” he says with a smile.