My favorite part about being Jewish is being different from all of my friends. In my day-to-day life, I don’t come across many Jewish people outside of Shalom Park. I love that I have different holidays and traditions than most of my friends. When I’m at Temple Beth El or the JCC, I have my Jewish community around me. But the actual best part of being Jewish is the food. I like how food represents and symbolizes so many different things, such as dipping apples in honey for a sweet new year at Rosh HaShanah.

For my mitzvah project, I chose Time Out Youth as the organization I wanted to help. Time Out Youth is the LGBTQ safe space that offers kids not only a place to hang out or get a hot meal, but also helps find housing, counseling, and so much more for individuals who may not be welcome in their own homes, just for being themselves. My mitzvah project was a Grand Night for Singing benefit concert, that I performed and emceed, along with a bunch of my middle school friends. We raised thousands of dollars to benefit Time Out Youth.

Donovan is the son of Jon Abeshaus and Rebecca Levy. He is the brother of Sydney. He is the grandson of Barry and Selma Abeshaus of Sarasota, FL, Nancy Levy of Bethlehem, PA, and Edward and Ursla Levy of Bethlehem, PA.