Lynbrook teen makes a difference by helping seniors during Covid-19 pandemic

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When Covid-19 cases began to climb locally, Lynbrook resident Liam Schorr didn’t hesitate to help his community.

First, he volunteered to call seniors to check on them and see if they needed anything as part of a volunteer service created by State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Beach. In that role, Liam, 15, a sophomore at Lynbrook High School, working with a list of area residents on an Excel spreadsheet, called them, and if they needed anything — such as masks, food or hand sanitizer — he arranged for deliveries.

Then, when the vaccine rollout began, he helped seniors and others who had difficulty with technology by scheduling appointments for them online so they could be inoculated.

“It was really nice to help some of them, and most of them, they feel weird asking for help,” he said, “but some of them actually needed stuff, and it was nice getting them the stuff that they needed.”

Liam first started helping seniors make vaccine appointments when his grandparents asked him for assistance. After that, he helped their friends and then many others after he was referred to them. In all, he has helped more than 20 seniors make appointments, including many who live in the Lynbrook Restorative Therapy and Nursing facility. He said he plans to continue to help those who either have issues with computers or don’t have the patience to set up appointments themselves.

Barbara Marcus said she was having trouble navigating a website to make an appointment, and Liam helped her find a time and location to receive both doses of the vaccine. She called him a “standup kid,” and described him as respectful and patient.

“He knows what to do, and he realizes it’s important for the seniors,” Marcus said, “so he really goes more than the extra mile. It’s nice to see.”

Marcus, who retired as a nurse at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital two years ago but maintains her certification, said she has referred her friends to Liam to help them set up their appointments.

His mother, Andi Schorr, said she was proud of her son, and that his efforts to help seniors were in keeping with his character.

“I’m actually not surprised, because during Covid, early on in the pandemic, he began volunteering for Senator Kaminsky and checking on elderly people,” she said. “He reached out on his own. He called seniors and checked up on them throughout the pandemic. He really just used all his resources, and he’s still going at it.”

Liam also excels in school, where he maintains a high-90s average and is involved in a variety of clubs and activities, including the tennis team, the speech and debate club, and mathletes. Andi and Mike Schorr’s youngest son, Cooper, 13, is also talented, especially at tennis, earning a national ranking in the sport after he and Zavier Augustin, of Malverne, won the Boys 12 doubles title at the U.S. Tennis Association’s Empire Cup in Mamaroneck in December 2019. With the victory, Cooper was ranked No. 12 in his age group by the USTA.

Outside school, in addition to volunteering, Liam works for the National Income Life Insurance Company, where he helps organize Zoom appointments for potential clients who are looking to acquire life insurance. Andi said that though he is a teenager, his employers have been so impressed with him that they trust him to handle clients at such a young age. In the past, Liam started his own side businesses, which included fixing phone screens for his peers and others after learning the skill on YouTube and, as a sixth-grader, selling fidget spinners in an enterprise he called Spinners for Winners.

“He’s a smart kid,” Andi said. “He’s in all the top classes, and he totally thought about helping others get vaccinated on his own. It’s special.”