Skip to content
Entertainment
Link copied to clipboard

Bon Jovi makes surprise appearance at homeless aid 'Hub'

Some of the people in this city living on a prayer were given anything but bad medicine when they were graced with the surprise presence of Jon Boni Jovi earlier today.

In town to chair a board meeting with members of his nonprofit, the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, the hunky rocker paid a visit to Project H.O.M.E.'s Hub of Hope, a drop-in homeless center underground in SEPTA's Suburban Station.

The Songwriters Hall of Famer told very few people he was coming, but the Daily News was there to catch him.

"Our Soul foundation, working with Project H.O.M.E., helped procure this space," Bon Jovi told me.

"It's in the second-year running."

Karen Orrick, project coordinator of Project H.O.M.E., said Bon Jovi has been a longtime supporter of the nonprofit.

In April of last year, Project H.O.M.E. partnered with the rock star to open a brand new 55-unit Jon Bon Jovi (JBJ) Soul Homes in Fairmount for the poor and formerly homeless.

"The people who are involved in his Soul Foundation have been really instrumental in helping the Hub open here," said Orrick.

It was Bon Jovi's first visit to the satellite shelter, and beneficiaries of the free coffee and quick break from the cold were happily gratified.

Mindy Tanney, who was in the subway concourse when Bon Jovi was exiting, fanned herself and swooned after she snapped a photo with him.

"I've been dying to see him in concert. I'm just so excited! He's very cool and seems down to earth," she said.