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Pass It On®
Living on a Prayer.
Catch up with mega-star musician Jon Bon Jovi as he continues to inspire fans, serving up soup and doing dishes at JBJ Soul Kitchen in New Jersey.By The Foundation for a Better Life
In the midst of the pandemic, somewhere in the heart of Chicago, when the whole city was in quarantine, somebody opened a window and began singing. We may never know who that optimistic person was, but we will never forget the song.
It began with one voice, others joined in, and within moments, it was as if the whole city was singing, then the whole world. The song? Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer.”
It offered the hope we all needed, even as the artist himself was dealing with COVID-19 scares as bandmates and his son had severe cases of the virus. They survived, and Jon Bon Jovi rolled up his sleeves and got to work. Not singing but serving.
There were people who needed to eat, people who were out of work and low on work. JBJ Soul Kitchen became their place of refuge where they could get a meal. It began as a “pay what you can” restaurant and was soon serving anybody who needed a meal.
And in the back was the rocker himself, up to his elbows in suds as he scrubbed at large pots, bowls and utensils. His wife, Dorothea Bongiovi, JBJ Soul Kitchen’s founder and program director, snapped a picture of him hard at work, and Jon added a comment: “If you can’t do what you do … do what you can.” The post immediately went viral.
The times that try us the most are often the times when we discover the very best of humanity. Across the country and around the world, people rise to the occasion delivering food, clearing vacant lots, mentoring children and visiting elderly neighbors. From earthquakes to the pandemic to the recent California fires, unsung heroes are all around us: California neighbors on top of a roof, spraying smoldering palm trees with hoses. Along the Maine seacoast, a community-organized beach cleanup after a storm. In the Midwest, farmers markets providing boxes of fresh produce to recently landed refugees.
As JBJ Soul Kitchen celebrates 15 years of operations for the people of New Jersey, we’re all left a little bit in awe. We have survived, together. Through the hard work and compassion of our neighbors, friends and families, we are still here.
“I’m here every day we’re open,” Jon Bon Jovi told USA Today. The world is still open, and each of us is here. Let us be about the work that gets us through the toughest times, and when the day deserves a little music, sing.
And I'll be there forever and a day, always
I'll be there 'til the stars don't shine
Be There, Always… PassItOn.com®
Copyright ©2025 The Foundation for a Better Life. All rights reserved. Available under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License (international): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
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