Jon Bon Jovi might be Livin’ on a Prayer, but the residents of Toms River, New Jersey, are apparently just trying to live without dodging a swarm of out-of-town homeless people every time they walk into the public library. According to Republican Mayor Dan Rodrick, the rock star-turned-social-justice-chef has managed to turn a local library into what he calls “ground zero for homelessness”—a distinction no town is exactly angling for on TripAdvisor.
Let’s be clear: helping the homeless is a noble cause. But turning public spaces into makeshift social experiments under the guise of “philanthropy,” without so much as a local conversation, is about as tone-deaf as Bon Jovi dropping a new single and expecting people to care. Rodrick didn’t mince words when he said this pop-up location of the JBJ Soul Kitchen, operating right out of the Ocean County Library, is bringing in more problems than it’s solving—starting with the fact that many of the homeless individuals showing up aren’t even from the area. Some aren’t even from the state.
Now here’s the kicker: this isn’t your run-of-the-mill soup kitchen. JBJ Soul Kitchen serves three-course meals, offers patrons the ability to “pay it forward,” and gives people the chance to volunteer in exchange for food. Sounds charming in theory. In practice? It’s become a magnet for nonprofits to bus in homeless individuals from around the region—because nothing says “community service” like exploiting a feel-good project to cash in on per-head reimbursements from the state. According to Rodrick, these so-called advocacy groups are raking in millions while turning a suburban town’s library into an unofficial drop-off point.
Rodrick, who says the issue exploded when the county opened a warming center nearby, describes daily scenes of intoxicated or mentally ill individuals congregating outside the library, where kids and families are just trying to, you know, check out Charlotte’s Web without stepping over someone passed out on the sidewalk. You can practically hear the common sense leaving the room every time a bureaucrat approves one of these feel-good-but-failed policies.
Jon Bon Jovi’s soup kitchen is causing more issues than it’s solving, in the opinion of Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick.
Rodrick spoke with Fox News Digital via phone, explaining that the New Jersey city has a homelessness problem that is being exacerbated by Bon Jovi and other… pic.twitter.com/5RPCt4CyJn
— Wake Up NJ New Jersey (@wakeupnj) April 9, 2025
Even more frustrating? Toms River doesn’t even have a licensed shelter of its own, and when a modest 17-bed facility was proposed last year, residents shot it down. That should’ve been a signal that the town isn’t equipped to be a social services hub. But instead of listening, nonprofits, encouraged by celebrity back-patting, started flooding the zone with people the town can’t possibly support.
Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea responded with a polished PR statement, emphasizing their mission to “end homelessness through real solutions.” But those solutions apparently don’t include respecting local governance or acknowledging when a community says, “Hey, maybe we’re not the best location for your experimental restaurant.” Their foundation might’ve built housing elsewhere, but in Toms River, it looks a lot more like they’re building headlines.
It’s the same pattern we’ve seen over and over with progressive celebrity activism: noble intentions with zero real-world accountability. They come in, throw around some money, slap a halo on their brand, and leave the mess for local officials and residents to clean up. Meanwhile, people like Mayor Rodrick are left trying to balance compassion with public safety—and getting vilified in the process for daring to say the quiet part out loud.
This isn’t about demonizing the homeless or being heartless—it’s about priorities, boundaries, and common sense. You don’t solve homelessness by turning libraries into drop-in centers and hoping good vibes will fill in the gaps. And you definitely don’t fix systemic issues with one pop-up kitchen and a publicist on speed dial.
