Community members gathered Thursday to honor the Tamaqua Area Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen and Business Person of the Year.

Jay Hollenbach Jr. received the 2022 Joseph M. Plasko Citizenship Award, and Micah Gursky accepted the business award during the Chamber’s annual dinner held at Mountain Valley Golf Course in Barnesville.

“I couldn’t ask for a better person to share the spotlight with tonight than Jay,” Gursky said prior to receiving his award from Chamber President Linda Yeich.

Yeich credited Gursky with moving the community forward through his various roles.

“I think we’d still be struggling but we are thriving,” she said.

Gursky graduated from Tamaqua Area High School in 1991 and Princeton University in 1995.

“People thought I was crazy when I graduated from Princeton and I said ‘I want to move back to my hometown.’ I really didn’t consider it ‘back’ - I felt like I never left,” he said. “But they thought there was something wrong with me.”

Since returning, Gursky has worked to change things for the better.

He served 16 years on the Tamaqua Borough Council, and is the business development manager for St. Luke’s University Health Network. At St. Luke’s, he works to bring medical services to rural and underserved communities.

“It’s an amazing opportunity and I am blessed,” he said.

Gursky has been the executive director of the nonprofit Tamaqua Area Community Partnership for the past 27 years.

He’s been instrumental with the development of the Tamaqua Community Arts Center and the expansion of Hope & Coffee.

He’s also assisted with many restoration projects, helped develop affordable housing and attracted businesses to the borough.

“There are so many people behind the scenes in our organization. It really is amazing. I just want to thank our board members,” he said.

Gursky hinted at humble beginnings.

“My dad got out of the Air Force and bought a house in Tamaqua for $12,000. It had no heat. We grew up with no heat,” he said. “When I got accepted to Princeton, a friend gave me a dress shirt because I didn’t have a dress shirt.”

He thanked his parents, siblings, children and wife, Penny.

“They sacrificed a lot because doing the things I do takes a lot of time and a lot of effort - and oftentimes it was them who sacrificed,” he said.

He also thanked his grandfather, a World War II Marine.

“He really helped teach me about the man I wanted to be,” he said, fighting back tears. “I know he’s looking down and I hope he’s proud of me.”

Gursky commended a number of nonprofit organizations for the work they do in the community. He thanked them for their assistance and encouraged them to keep moving the community in the right direction.

“We have a long way to go. We are going to be there. We are going to get there and we’ll continue to make improvements,” Gursky said.

Yeich read Hollenbach’s biography - businessman, firefighter, volunteer.

“Jay reminds me of the Coal Region values that my parents instilled on me: you get up every day. You’re hard working. You’re honest,” Yeich said.

Hollenbach is a longtime volunteer firefighter at the American Hose Co. No. 1 and an active member of Bethany Evangelical Congregational Church, both in Tamaqua.

He serves on the Tamaqua Borough Council, and with his wife, Gloria, has fostered 21 children. The couple adopted two, bringing their total number of children to four.

He owns Jay Hollenbach Jr. Plumbing and Heating and Hollenbach Home Comfort Services, supports many nonprofit organizations and holds memberships in a number of nonprofit groups.

“Jay is a firm believer that change is best achieved by a grassroots effort with citizens who are hardworking volunteers who live and raise their children in town and support local businesses,” Yeich said.

She congratulated Hollenbach.

“I was really hoping Micah would go first because I knew his speech would be awesome, so I am here to just say, ‘Ditto,’?” Hollenbach joked.

He thanked the Chamber for its work.

“But most of all my family. Everybody who surrounds me truly makes what I do possible,” he said.

The keynote speaker was Craig Poole, president of DoubleTree by Hilton/Reading Hospitality Management. He talked about transforming a broken hotel in Reading’s center city into one of the Top 100 hotels in the world.

The hotel’s success is the subject of the documentary, “Follow Me and I Will Be Behind You.”