It’s no bed of roses, but Ben Franklin’s final resting place has been saved thanks to the donation from a New Jersey rocker.
Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorthea donated $5,000 toward the GoFundMe campaign for restoring Franklin’s grave in Philadelphia yesterday, which boosted theChrist Church Preservation Trust’s to its $10,000 goal. Jovi is a Perth Amboy, New Jersey, native. He was a majority owner of the Philadelphia Soul from 2004 to 2008.
The campaign, launched on Nov. 1, seeks to raise money to restore Franklin’s grave at the Christ Church Burial Ground in Old City. Because of his popular adage — “a penny saved is a penny earned” —tens of thousands of visitors annually toss pennies onto the politician’s marble ledger. Over the years, it has sustained significant damage and a large crack. Franklin was one of the seven signers of the Declaration of Independence buried at Christ Church.He died in 1790.