Jon and Dorothea Bon Jovi have started a new food bank to service the East End of Long Island, in an effort to help feed those who have fallen through the cracks due to the coronavirus. Newsday reported, “The food bank will operate from space at The Clubhouse in East Hampton donated by the Scott Rubenstein family. It aims to provide food for 5,000 individuals monthly on the South Fork, as well as pre-made Soul Kitchen meals to the homeless or those without access to cooking facilities.”
The Bon Jovi's have been longtime Hamptons residents, and Jon told Patch.com, “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.” Dorothea added: “When most people think about the towns of the East End, they don't necessarily think about hunger, but for many, it is a reality.
Jon admitted that time will tell how long the food bank will be in operation, telling Newsday: “It’ll be obvious by the end of summer what the next steps will be. So this is, in essence, a start, and we’ll reassess it from there.”
A while back, Jon Bon Jovi told CBS that his and Dorothea's plans to feed people quickly and with dignity came about in a truly organic and altruistic way: “Y'know, it was just something that we developed as a couple, that we just, felt privileged and lucky. . . And then, little by little we created (it) in an official capacity with the foundation. And that evolved into the Soul Kitchen and this culinary program, and the farm. But it wasn't that we woke up one day and we said, 'We're gonna do good!' This started by doing good.”
