She Finds Homes For Old Furniture And Electronics At MDC: ‘One Man’s Trash Is Another’s Treasure’

Maggie Zilliner is a staple at Miami Dade College’s consolidated warehouse.

For 25 years, she has worked part-time at the facility—a graveyard of sorts—that stores old furniture and electronics discarded by departments at the College’s eight campuses.  

The warehouse is a holding pen for that merchandise. Some of it is thrown away but others find new life and use at offices across MDC.

“One man’s trash is another’s treasure,” said the West Campus Associate Director of Learning Resources Sara Alegria, who has visited the warehouse several times to look for display cabinets and tables for big events.

Zilliner, who is in charge of data entry, recycling and the paperwork associated with the products that make their way to the warehouse, helps keep the operation humming along.

“She is very determined,” said  Ruben Paz, the property and warehouse manager. “Detail-oriented.”

A Career In The Airline Industry

Zilliner was born in Gadsden County, Fl. in April of 1947.

As a kid, she moved often because her mother was a seasonal farmworker. As a result, Zilliner and her 12 brothers zigzagged throughout the United States to places like North and South Carolina, Long Island in New York, Tallahassee and Virginia. 

One of her fondest memories growing up was her mom taking her to the airport to see airplanes take off from the tarmac.

“Being poor and not having much money, there wasn’t much entertainment so I’d sit and dream about one day being on one of those airplanes,” Zilliner said.

Her dream came true. She worked as a flight attendant for 21 years at National Airlines—later renamed Pan Am Airlines.

Zilliner was soon flying all across the world, to places like Rome, Paris and Germany. But the job also had strict requirements. If she gained more than five pounds or missed three days of work, she risked getting fired. 

“I lived in a suitcase and was always ready to go when that phone rang,” Zilliner said. “If you were one minute late you didn’t work that day. It was very stressful but I loved it.” 

However, her dream was put on hold when the airline filed for bankruptcy and she lost her job.

Making Her Way To MDC

Her three children—Jimmy, Steven and Katherine—became Zilliner’s motivation. She enrolled at Kendall Campus in 1993 to study computer science and took a job on-campus as a lab assistant and later as a teacher’s assistant, proctoring exams. 

As her studies intensified, one of her last classes—system analysis—required her to create an original end-of-term project. She decided to create a database to organize the inventory that came in and out of the College’s warehouse.

The warehouse is located at 8643 N.W. 68th St. in Medley. It houses things like computers, desks, printers, scanners, filing cabinets, tables and chairs.  

In the summer of 1996, Zilliner was offered a part-time job at the warehouse to put her plan into action. 

Prior to Zilliner creating the database, the site was cluttered with random boxes and equipment from all across the Miami Dade College system. Zilliner created a system that tracked items as they entered the warehouse and as they were transferred to other campuses.

Most of the time, the 74-year-old, who earned an associate’s degree in computer science from Kendall Campus in 1995, works alone. She is even licensed to drive a forklift.

Outside of the College, Zilliner is a motivational speaker and teaches bible study at her church in Miami Gardens—Jesus People Ministries—and her daughter’s nonprofit organization Godly Women Enjoying Living Life INC. She aspires to one day become a minister.

“Many people my age end up dead or in nursing homes,” Zilliner said. “I’m still able to function and work because I refuse to give up and stay home and die.”