Jon Bon Jovi's Christmas Gift to Newark: Affordable Housing

You may think of Jon Bon Jovi as just a rocker with catchy songs and an amazing coif, but New Jersey's other favorite son recently took selfless steps to drastically improve the lives of low-income and special-needs families living with HIV/AIDS in Newark, New Jersey.

The HELP Genesis JBJ Soul Homes, a 51-unit state-of-the-art, "green" apartment building, is the collaboration of Bon Jovi (his Soul Foundation donated a significant amount of money to the project), HELP USA and the City of Newark.

To take it one step further, HomeGoods paired with interior designer Elaine Griffin and Elle Decor magazine, for its 20th anniversary, to design and furnish the building's model apartment, which will serve as decorating inspiration for the residents.

The fact that HomeGoods played a vital role in showing these families how to create a chic, comfortable home on a low-income budget is appropriate – the furnishings house is known for its stylish, designer-worthy goods at "bargain-basement prices." (See what I wrote about HomeGoods earlier this year.)

To make it even easier for the residents to feel right at home, HomeGoods provided each with a $200 gift card – and that's on top of their $10,000 general donation to help the residents of the building.


Jon Bon Jovi wasn't available for comment (trust me, I tried), but he did release this statement regarding the completion of the project: "Today I believe the sun is shining brighter in Newark because a dream has been realized. I'd like to be the first to say to the residents, 'Welcome Home.'"

Bon Jovi's song "Who Says You Can't Go Home" is currently stuck in my head.