More Glory Days

"The winning bid hit $15,000, which Bruce matched. In addition, part ofour requirement for being involved was that we would provide volunteers to solicit donations from fans before and after the concert. [Bruce's people] said, 'This is an expectation, you have to do it, and we want you to be very active and aggressive in asking for donations.' We raised another $4,200—a tremendous night for us. Plus, Bruce mentioned our food bank during the encore—that we've been around since 1982, how a lot of hungry people need a helping hand, and how important nutritious meals are for kids. We serve about 200,000 people a year working through 1,000 agencies in eastern New York State. That $35,000—that's thousands and thousands of meals.

"And he was doing this for every food bank along his itinerary. He latched on as an advocate for the issue of hunger, and that commitment has not wavered in all these years. On Long Island, he made the same offer—four tickets, meet-and-greet. They had two people going at it. Finally, one offered $20,000. The other bidder said, 'I'll match that donation if I can get four more tickets.' So they call up Springsteen's people, explain the situation; they said sure. They ended up with two winning $20,000 bids—and Bruce matched them both. That's $80,000, plus our $32,400—$112,400 for just two food banks. Unbelievable."