Marissa LaSorsa honored for helping kids deal with loss

Marissa LaSorsa’s efforts to improve her community have run the gamut, from assisting animals awaiting adoption to comforting children who have lost loved ones.

The Bellport teen, who started volunteering at age 5, has participated in countless community service opportunities — the most meaningful of which she considers to be her service as a camp counselor at East End Hospice’s Camp Good Grief in Center Moriches.

LaSorsa said she was introduced to the bereavement day camp upon being enrolled there following the loss of her father, Vincent, to congenital heart disease when she was just 6.

“It was a very helpful way to cope with grief,” said LaSorsa, 17. “There is a great sense of community and everyone has something in common, because they’re all going through the same thing.”

The camp, which is held for one week each summer, consists of activities such as kayaking, music therapy and arts and crafts, according to LaSorsa. One of her favorite activities, which she called the “spider web lesson,” asks kids to answer questions and toss a ball of yarn to those who have similar issues to see that “other people are going through the same thing,” she said.

This past spring, LaSorsa was honored for her efforts with the New York State PTA’s Youth Humanitarian Award for Suffolk County. The award recognizes displays of “humanitarian principles by word and deed,” according to the agency.

“What is especially powerful is the quiet strength that Marissa brings to her work,” said Suffolk Region PTA director Wendy Natalone. “She doesn’t seek the spotlight, nor does she ask for recognition. She simply sees a need and makes her presence felt.”

LaSorsa is also a Sunday school teaching assistant and runs a weekly youth group at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Patchogue. She helps assemble holiday food donations for families in need through the church as well as for “Operation Christmas Child,” a project of the international relief organization Samaritan’s Purse.

“She has blossomed into a wonderful young lady,” said Mary Haufe, of East Patchogue, who taught LaSorsa as a fifth grader at Emanuel Lutheran School. “She always gives 110% of herself and anything she puts her mind to, she accomplishes it.”

LaSorsa’s other efforts include collecting donations for North Shore Animal League in Port Washington and appearing on the North Shore Animal League America’s Great American Rescue Bowl, an annual television special where she discussed the importance of pet adoptions, in 2022.

“I just like giving back,” said LaSorsa, who plans to study criminal justice and music performance this fall at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. “I like the feeling of it; it makes me happy to help.”

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.