Bon Jovi donates $5K to restore Ben Franklin’s grave

Bon Jovi donates $5K to restore Ben Franklin’s grave
Taylor Hill / Wire Images via Getty Images

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.

|<image-caption/>|” title=”|<image-caption/>|” /></div>
<p><!-- END scald=3292 --></div>
</div>
<p>As of Wednesday afternoon, the campaign has raised $12,086.</p><section id=

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.