Jon Bon Jovi has sold arena tickets for four decades, but much of his work off the stage has been local and practical. Through the foundation he started in 2006, he has paid for homes, opened restaurants where diners pay what they can, and given money to help New Jersey recover after Superstorm Sandy. Sometimes he simply pitched in himself, washing dishes or stopping to talk with a stranger. The moments below come from news reports and records that are on the public record.
1. Helped talk a woman down from a Nashville bridge ledge
On the evening of September 10, 2024, Jon Bon Jovi was on Nashville's Pedestrian Bridge over the Cumberland River with a small crew for a video shoot. A woman was standing on the other side of the railing. Video reported by WSMV and WAFF shows a female crew member talking with her first. Bon Jovi then walked over and joined the conversation. Together they persuaded her not to jump and helped her climb back over the railing, and the two were seen embracing afterward. The Nashville Fire Department and Metro Nashville Police responded after a witness called dispatch. News outlets around the country reported that Bon Jovi was credited with helping to bring the woman to safety.
2. Gave $1 million for Hurricane Katrina homes in Louisiana
After Hurricane Katrina, Jon Bon Jovi and his bandmate Richie Sambora surprised Oprah Winfrey with a $1 million donation to her Angel Network and Habitat for Humanity. The Associated Press, in a 2006 report published by Pollstar, said the money was meant to build 28 homes in Houma, Louisiana, a town hit by the storm. The Chronicle of Philanthropy also reported the gift, describing it as money to build homes in Houma for people affected by Katrina. The donation came a year before Bon Jovi turned his charity work into a formal foundation, and housing would stay at the center of that work.
3. Joined Bill Clinton to restore 15 Philadelphia row homes
In October 2006, Jon Bon Jovi stood next to former President Bill Clinton to announce a plan to renovate 15 run-down row homes on two blocks of north Philadelphia. The project, called the Phase V Homeownership Project, brought together Habitat for Humanity, the Saturn car company, and a local charity. Bon Jovi's foundation was created that same year, first under the name Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation and later as the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation. That week, Philadelphia's mayor gave Bon Jovi the City of Brotherly Love Award. "We are all, in fact, connected," Bon Jovi said, according to the Associated Press. "We can make a difference."
4. Opened a restaurant where diners pay what they can
On October 19, 2011, Jon Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, opened the JBJ Soul Kitchen in a former auto body shop in Red Bank, New Jersey. The menu has no prices. The Christian Science Monitor reported that a $10 donation was appreciated for a three-course meal. Guests who can't pay can volunteer, for example by busing tables or doing community service, and earn a certificate they can trade for a meal. Bon Jovi wanted the restaurant to feed hungry neighbors with dignity, and he described it in his own words: "This is not a soup kitchen." Red Bank became the first of several Soul Kitchen locations.
5. Brought a $1 million check for Sandy recovery
On July 8, 2013, Jon Bon Jovi returned to Sayreville, New Jersey, the town where he grew up, with a $1 million check for Superstorm Sandy recovery. He announced the gift alongside Governor Chris Christie. NBC News reported that the money went to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, which was overseen by the state's first lady, Mary Pat Christie. Bon Jovi was an honorary board member of the fund, and the report put total donations at about $38 million. Remembering his visits after the storm, he said one thought kept coming back to him: "What can I do?"
6. Helped open 55 apartments for formerly homeless Philadelphians
In April 2014, JBJ Soul Homes opened in Philadelphia's Francisville neighborhood. The four-story, $16.6 million building has 55 apartments for low-income tenants and people who were formerly homeless, plus space for shops and offices. CBS News reported that Bon Jovi's Soul Foundation and the Middleton Partnership gave the lead gift, and that public funding covered part of the cost. Project HOME, a Philadelphia nonprofit that works to end homelessness, provides social services to the people who live there. Some apartments were set aside for young adults leaving programs for homeless teens, so they would have a stable place to live as they started out on their own.
7. Opened a second Soul Kitchen in storm-hit Toms River
Toms River was one of the New Jersey shore towns hit hardest by Superstorm Sandy. In May 2016, the second JBJ Soul Kitchen opened there inside the new B.E.A.T. Center, which stands for Bringing Everyone All Together. The center lets people apply for nutrition assistance and health care in one place, and it also offers culinary job training. Volunteers earn their meals, and paying guests can buy Pay It Forward certificates that cover meals for others. At the opening, the Associated Press reported, Bon Jovi said hunger is "not an issue it takes a scientist to solve."
8. Funded new homes for homeless veterans in Washington
Jon Bon Jovi's JBJ Soul Foundation helped pay for 77 apartments for homeless veterans at The Parks at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., on the grounds of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Connecting Vets reported in March 2019 that the nonprofit HELP USA was developing the project with Urban Atlantic and Hines, and that the foundation was providing funding. In November 2019, iHeartRadio reported that the foundation had given $500,000 for the apartment building, which had been about a decade in the making. HELP USA, a nonprofit that works on homelessness, partnered on the project. The foundation's message was that a home means safety and stability.
9. Brought his Soul Kitchen to a college campus
On January 22, 2020, Jon Bon Jovi attended the opening of a JBJ Soul Kitchen at Rutgers University–Newark, the first time one of the restaurants opened on a college campus. WBGO reported that it had no prices and asked for a minimum donation of $12, and that people who couldn't pay could volunteer instead. The restaurant is in the Paul Robeson Campus Center. In 2025, the university said it had served more than 14,000 meals there. Bon Jovi said the goal was a model where "no student had to choose between education and nourishment."
10. Washed dishes at his restaurant during the pandemic
In March 2020, New Jersey's pandemic rules meant the JBJ Soul Kitchen in Red Bank could offer only takeout meals, and only for people in need. Its usual volunteer program was paused because of COVID-19 concerns. TODAY reported that Jon Bon Jovi posted an Instagram photo of himself washing dishes in the back of the restaurant. He wrote this caption: "If you can't do what you do… do what you can!" The photo spread widely and gave many people a lift during an uncertain time. CBS News later reported that the caption became the starting point for his song "Do What You Can."
Sources
- https://www.waff.com/2024/09/11/jon-bon-jovi-credited-with-saving-woman-pedestrian-bridge-nashville/
- https://news.pollstar.com/2006/10/06/bon-jovi-to-renovate-homes/
- https://www.philanthropy.com/news/rock-star-teams-with-ex-president-to-build-homes/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Bon_Jovi
- https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2011/1020/Jon-Bon-Jovi-opens-a-pay-what-you-can-Soul-Kitchen
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna52424561
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jon-bon-jovi-helps-open-low-income-housing-in-philadelphia
- https://news.pollstar.com/2016/05/11/bon-jovi-opens-hunger-center-in-shore-town-hit-hard-by-sandy/
- https://www.audacy.com/connectingvets/articles/bon-jovi-jbj-soul-foundation-help-usa-create-homes-homeless-vets-parks-walter-reed
- https://1067wllz.iheart.com/content/2019-11-11-bon-jovi-foundation-donates-500k-to-build-housing-for-homeless-veterans
- https://www.wbgo.org/post/jon-bon-jovi-opens-jbj-soul-kitchen-rutgers-newark-help-fight-food-insecurity
- https://www.newark.rutgers.edu/news/jbj-soul-kitchen-rutgers-university-newark-celebrates-5-years-fighting-food-insecurity-and
- https://www.today.com/today/amp/tdna176535
- https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/preview-how-covid-19-is-driving-the-creativity-of-musicians
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jon_Bon_Jovi_at_Health_Datapalooza_Event.jpg
