UNION BEACH, N.J. — Rocker Jon Bon Jovi is lending support to a community restaurant in New Jersey and pop star Taylor Swift is giving cash to public schools in New York.
Bon Jovi is sponsoring a community restaurant in a Jersey shore community still struggling mightily to recover from Superstorm Sandy.
Through his Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, he is providing financial backing to Spoon Full of Hope. The church project began serving meals in January in a firehouse in Union Beach, New Jersey, near his childhood home of Sayreville.
It lost its funding last summer.
Patrons can either pay a minimum donation or give an hour of time to earn a dining certificate for the volunteer and four family members.
It’s similar to the JBJ Soul Kitchen, a community restaurant Bon Jovi founded in Red Bank in 2011.
Bon Jovi says the project gives hope to people still rebuilding their lives.
Meanwhile, Swift has donated $50,000 to the city’s public schools.
The city tourism bureau tapped Swift as “global welcome ambassador” last year even though critics noted she was a recent transplant to New York.
Some also complained that her song “Welcome to New York” from the album 1989 was bland and lifeless.
Swift responded by announcing last October that she would donate proceeds from the single to the city’s schools.
A spokeswoman for the city Department of Education said Tuesday that Swift has now given $50,000.
Spokeswoman Devora Kaye says the department is “deeply appreciative of this kind gesture.”
A publicist for Swift says the singer will continue to donate additional proceeds she receives from the single “Welcome to New York” to the city’s schools.
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