‘All it takes is one person’: Meet the plumber who is full of good deeds to help strangers – York Daily Record

Adam Jacoby learned from his parents how to help people and now that his small plumbing business is growing he has been reaching out to the community. Paul Kuehnel, pkuehnel@ydr.com

A Facebook postcaught Adam Jacoby's attention:A man's car battery died, and he didn't have money for a new one.

"It was the Wednesday before payday, so I didn't know how I was going to get to work the next couple of days," said Rob Austera, who commutes 40 minutes each way. His post attractedcar advice about whether it was the starter or thebattery, but Adam saw it differently.

Adam thought, "I can help this guy."

Austeralives 30 minutesfrom Adam in New Freedom, so Adamcalled an Auto Zone in Hanover for help that evening. Ten minutes after closing time, Austera pulled up to findthe Auto Zone crewstill on the phone with Adam, purchasing the battery.

"They waited for him. He got there, they put it in, and his car's been running great since," said Adam, 35.

This wasn't unusual for Adam. If he can help, he will.

Adam Jacoby, right, installs a flag for Shirley Puente on Manchester Street in Glen Rock.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

"If somebody asks for help, I try not to judge anybody. Everybody has their own story," Adamsaid. "If there's something I can do to make their life easier ... just like the guy with the battery, 130 bucks, and he can make it to work for the rest of the week."

Compassionate. That's the word his mother, Dawn Jacoby, uses to describe him.

When he was little, he spotted a homeless manasking for money. His grandmother explained that sometimes a person isn't actually homeless. Adam's answer:"Nope, he's true blue." Then, Dawn remembers, he handed the mana couple of dollars.

So when a woman recently posted on the Southern York County Facebook page that she was looking for building scraps, Adam jumped in again. He would donate supplies so she couldconstructan outdoor playhouse for her daughter's birthday.

At Starbucks a couple of weeks ago, he bought coffee for someone behind him in line, and she then paidfor others.

"All it takes is one person to show care for other people, strangers. It's like the butterfly effect," he said. "One person does it, then before you know it, everybody wants to give."

Shirley Puente with a flag that was just installed by Adam Jacoby in Glen Rock.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

When Adam and his sister, Jennifer, were kids, they really wanted to go to Hersheypark. Knowing how important it was to them, their mother pawned her wedding ring to pay for the trip.

"She's a giver," Adam said. "My dad's the same way. He'd give you the last dollar he had and the shirt off his back if he had to."

Terry and Dawn Jacobydidn't have much money, so they did what they could for their kids and others. (Dawn went back for the ring after she got her paycheck. It was still at the pawn shop, and she bought it back.)

"They never really asked for help," Adam said. "So, I guess we would have been further ahead or in a different spot if they would have asked for help, but they didn't. It was always: 'We'll get through this.'"

When Adam was 15, a plumber visiting their house for serviceasked the teenager if he wanted a summer job. That began Adam's career path.

After more than a decade working for others, Adam decided to start his own plumbing business eight years ago, Jacoby Plumbing & Heating. Another business owner had told him: You'll never get rich working for somebody else.

With $1,800 in the bank, he took the dive, using his Chevy Tahoe to run plumbing jobs. Today, there are six employees in his company, including his dad.

"It takes a village to raise a child. Well, it takes a village to support a small business, too," Adam said.

Adam was in his early 20s, playing softball for a church team in Shrewsbury, when the ball, thrown to get him out at second base, hit him in the temple. He finished the game, but a doctor in the stands took a look at his head. It wasn't swelling, which worried him.

It turned out to be a fractured skull and artery damage, which required surgery.

"They told us: 'He's not gonna make it unless we do this now," Dawn said. "He was literally dying."

Dawn was distraught, but Adam was calm. He knew he would be OK; it wasn't his time, he told his parents.

Late at night, during surgery, aminister appeared to talk to the Jacobys. Dawn remembers his counsel: "Adam Jacoby does not need your tears. He needs your prayers."

His Pentecostal parents prayed, and their son with the sense of humor and gift for giving survived.

Adam Jacoby has patriot wrist bands he uses in his plumbing business.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record)

Adam remembers driving through York County as a kid and seeing flags flying from front porches, but he doesn't notice it as much these days.

So, last week, he went back to Facebook with this: "I'm a very proud American and I love my country so I'm gonna order 25 American flags and porch mounts tonight and donate them with free install for hopefully this weekend if they come in by then. If you or someone you know wants one either like this post or message me and let's get patriotic."

The requests came in, and Adam drove through his southern York County "village" to mountflags for his neighbors on Sunday.

"I love America and love that I can go out and start my own business without a blink of an eye. If it takes off, great. If it doesn't, I still had that chance to do it," Adam said.

He doesn't weigh in on politics, but he does hold on to this: "When it comes down to it, in God we trust. He's got it. We'll be fine."

Keeping the faith: She lost her husband then her son, daughter and mother. But she holds on to faith.

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'All it takes is one person': Meet the plumber who is full of good deeds to help strangers - York Daily Record