Jon Bon Jovi sponsors community restaurant in Jersey shore town pummeled by Superstorm Sandy

Rocker and philanthropist Jon Bon Jovi is sponsoring a community restaurant in a Jersey shore community still struggling mightily to recover from Superstorm Sandy.

Through his Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, he is providing financial backing to Spoon Full of Hope. The church project began serving meals in January in a firehouse in Union Beach, New Jersey, near his childhood home of Sayreville.

It lost its funding last summer.

Patrons can either pay a minimum donation or give an hour of time to earn a dining certificate for the volunteer and four family members.

It's similar to the JBJ Soul Kitchen, a community restaurant Bon Jovi founded in Red Bank in 2011.

Bon Jovi says the project gives hope to people still rebuilding their lives.