Being a teenager is a challenge on its own. Balancing curious eyes and impatient eavesdroppers is just part of the game. Endless questions about the future, including careers, marriage, and children, are icing on the cake! Ask any person in their late teens, and they’ll agree that being a teenager is quite a struggle. You can say the same thing for 17-year-old Danny Goldberg until he dropped everyone’s jaws.
Studying at San Marcos High School, Danny found himself holed up in his home during the pandemic in 2020. However, his father reported to work every day because he worked as an emergency room doctor for a local hospital. It was through his father that Danny discovered the devastating effects of the virus ravaging people’s lives.
Pandemic and Dependancy
He heard stories about how quickly the virus snatched happiness from families, leaving them, sometimes, mourning the loss of loved ones. Things worsened during the pandemic’s peak, especially for senior citizens and immunocompromised people. Since they were strictly self-isolating to prevent the virus (or recover from it), it became extremely difficult for them to get basic household and food supplies.
For people who couldn’t leave their homes, life went from being self-sufficient to extremely dependent. It wasn’t fair, but it was for their best. But what about people who had no one to rely on for their basic household and food supplies? That’s when it hit Danny that something had to be done to make life easier for people in self-isolation.
Danny said, “They are supposed to be staying inside and self-isolating, what they are dealing with is significantly worse than the rest of us in every way…”
And he’s right. With no one to rely on, and a strong possibility of running out of basic supplies, self-isolation for seniors and immunocompromised people was worse than their healthy and young counterparts. Within a couple of days, he founded a website called “Zoomers to Boomers ”after texting his teenager buddies, Taylor, Nat, and Lily, to see if they were interested in helping out.
Founding Zoomers to Boomers
After roping in his friends, the teenager partnered with Gladden & Sons Produce and used the “NextDoor” neighborhood communication app to market the website. What started as a local service with just a few friends quickly expanded into a movement. Everyone who works for Zoomers to Boomers is a volunteer, which means they don’t get paid for the job. All of them do it to help their community!
“There is no infrastructure in place to help with something like this, so we are building one,” said Danny.
To date, Zoomers to Boomers have served over 15,000 people, caters to 38 cities, and has over 1,000 volunteers working for the cause. Danny appreciates the reactions he gets when he delivers household supplies and groceries. He’s grateful for the respect and love he gets and knows that the people he delivers supplies to are equally appreciative.
Danny says, “Every time I knock on the door, and someone opens, they are jumping with joy, they are super excited and super grateful. A couple of people told me that they wish they could hug me — but we have to stay a good distance apart.”
Danny – The Superhero!
You don’t need to believe in heroes to meet them in person! Sure, Danny doesn’t wear flashy clothes and a cape, but he’s a superhero for over 15,000 people! That said, this isn’t the first time he’s gone out of his way to help others. When he was in the 7th grade at Vieja Valley, he created a program that connected students struggling with studies with middle schoolers willing to teach.
He said, “I tried to mentor them, too. I wanted them to enjoy trying to learn, not look at it as something they were forced to do. That attitude was the main thing that stopped a lot of the kids.”
During his freshman year at San Marcos High School, the teenager volunteered to teach physics in the school’s Royal Time mentor program.
He stated, “Rather than try to force material into someone’s brain, I tried to mentor them into a new mindset. I wanted them to want to learn more about all of these new, cool things.”
Besides tutoring physics, Danny participated in the school’s Link Crew, where he collaborated with first-year students. He helped them get used to the school, encouraged them to participate in sports, and become active. Danny’s aim is for students to make friends and have good high school memories to look back on in the future.
What’s Happening Today?
Danny continues to help Vieja Valley’s 6th graders in the Math Super Bowl once a week. He teaches them new math concepts and strategies to help build their math skills during this time. It’s safe to say that with Danny as a mentor, teenagers have a role model to inspire from.
Danny is grateful for his upbringing and looks up to his 55-year-old father, who, despite struggling with asthma, returns to the ER every day, knowing the dangers of the virus far too well.
He concluded by saying, “It definitely makes us nervous, but a big thing in our family is it’s all about helping others, making sure our community is doing well. It boils down to where our priorities lie.”
Like father, like son!
