Bon Jovi, Local Business Owners Honored For Feeding Hungry

EAST HAMPTON, NY — During the pandemic, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jon Bon Jovi brought his caring efforts to feed the hungry to East Hampton: The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, founded in 2006, announced the formation of the JBJ Soul Kitchen Food Bank at the Clubhouse in East Hampton to service East End food pantries.

And on Friday, the Meals on Wheels home meal delivery program and Project MOST received a $50,000 contribution from Scott and Holly Rubenstein, owners of the Clubhouse, following an event featuring a Jon Bon Jovi performance.

East Hampton town board members also attended Friday’s event — where COVID restrictions and safety protocols were strictly followed, including a requirement that the more than 100 attendees show proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID test — and presented proclamations to the Rubensteins and to the JBJ Soul Foundation for their "crucial community contributions, and in honoring food pantry volunteers and frontline healthcare workers," including a number who served at the town vaccination clinics organized by Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc.

The JBJ Soul Kitchen Food Bank was established at the Clubhouse in East Hampton in
partnership with the Rubensteins in May, 2020 when many food pantries were seeing a 500 percent increase in the need for food, town officials said.

"Food insecurity and hunger, which regularly spikes seasonally here due to seasonal
unemployment, rose exponentially during the pandemic, posing severe challenges for our food
pantries that struggled to address the need," town officials added.

During 18 weeks of food distribution, the JBJ Soul Kitchen Food Bank delivered more than 447,225 lbs. of nonperishable, healthy food, along with produce, dairy products, and handmade frozen meals, to eight area food pantries, including the Montauk Food Pantry, Springs Food Pantry, and East Hampton Food Pantry, the town said.

In Springs alone, the donations helped to feed more than 10,705 residents between May 17
and September, 2020 — more than the total number served by the Springs pantry throughout all
of 2019.

“We are blessed and truly fortunate to live in a community where individuals come together to
help those in need,” said Van Scoyoc. “The Rubensteins and Jon Bon Jovi have been
shining examples of this."

During the pandemic, Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea Bongiovi — Jon Bon Jovi was born John Francis Bongiovi Jr. — were out delivering food themselves to local pantries. Jon and Dorothea, who have a home in East Hampton, said they'd heard of East End pantries that were overwhelmed by the ever-growing demand. Drawing upon their 15 years of experience in the areas of homelessness and hunger, they reached out to local community leaders, food banks and pantry operators to create a plan.

"The pandemic has strained food distribution networks around the country, and after hearing from organizations on the ground about its local impact, the need for a food bank on the East End became clear to us," Jon Bon Jovi said.