Bon Jovi Donates Half A Million To Murphy's Feed Ukraine Fund

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — This week, Gov. Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy announced the launch of a two-million-dollar challenge grant to provide food for displaced Ukrainians.

And the Murphys' Middletown neighbors, rocker Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea Bongiovi made the initial $500,000 motivational pledge on Tuesday.

Murphy and his family have lived in Middletown for the past 19 years, along Navesink River Road, the toniest corner of the Township. Bon Jovi is a neighbor of Murphy's on that road. The two couples are apparently friends; Bon Jovi campaigned for Murphy the first time he ran for governor.

On Tuesday, Bon Jovi and his wife made a personal donation of half a million dollars to feed the people of Ukraine. Phil and Tammy Murphy donated more than $100,000 to the fund through their Philip and Tammy Murphy Family Foundation. Last week: Ukrainians Jam To Bon Jovi While Defending Odessa: Watch

In addition to their donations, the other seven founding donors include the Saker ShopRites (a family-owned network of ShopRites based in Middletown) and individuals such as Vincent and Ellen Forlenza and Howard and Betty Pantirer Schwartz.

Murphy's non-profit is now seeking matching funds to raise a total of $2 million. All of the money will go to secure food for people displaced by the fighting and the Russian invasion.

“From the first days of this awful war, we knew we couldn’t sit on the sidelines,” Murphy and his wife said. “And every single day, we've been asked by New Jerseyans how to help the citizens of Ukraine who are bravely fighting and enduring Russia's unjust aggression. Thanks to the incredible generosity and momentum of our good friends Dorothea and Jon Bon Jovi, we together are now enabling others a path to help relieve the suffering on the ground."

"Fighting hunger and food insecurity is central to our philanthropic work for the past several decades, in New Jersey and Beyond,” said Dorothea and Jon Bon Jovi.

For years now, Bon Jovi has run his Soul Kitchen in Red Bank and Toms River. Bon Jovi founded Soul Kitchen to feed the hungry; diners pay whatever they want per meal. The rocker did this erase the stigma of a "soup kitchen."

The non-profit is called "Together for Ukraine" and it is hosted by the Community Foundation of New Jersey (CFNJ). CFNJ will be monitoring all incoming donations and release the matching funds to a single beneficiary, World Central Kitchen ("WCK“) for their work in shoring up food security for the people of Ukraine. World Central Kitchen was started by chef José Andrés, who Bon Jovi said he has worked with in the past.

If you would like to donate, you can do so here cfnj.org/ukraine

World Central Kitchen has been providing fresh meals and has been on the ground in full force since the day after the war erupted. The response started on the Poland-Ukraine border but has since expanded to over 30 cities in Ukraine itself, and six additional countries: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia and Spain.

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