An annual benefit that has raised $117 million for injured veterans and their families since 2007 will mark its 20th anniversary this fall in New York. Bruce Springsteen is returning to a lineup that also features comedian Jon Stewart.
Stand Up for Heroes is scheduled for Nov. 9 at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, produced by the Bob Woodruff Foundation in partnership with the New York Comedy Festival. Along with Springsteen, the musical acts include The Resilient and Alex Warren, while the comedy lineup features Stewart, Hasan Minhaj, and Josh Johnson of “The Daily Show.”
Tickets are on sale now through the foundation. Veterans and service members can purchase tickets at a reduced price.
Springsteen has been the benefit’s musical guest since its start. He’s returning after sitting out the 2025 show. The appearance is a rare live date for him following the North American leg of his Land of Hope and Dreams tour earlier this year.
Follow the Money
The night is built around the veterans it serves.
Since the first show in 2007, Stand Up for Heroes has raised $117 million for injured veterans, military families and caregivers, according to the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The night is one piece of a larger operation. The foundation has funded $228 million in programs and services in its 20 years, said Dave Woodruff, a co-founder of the foundation and Bob Woodruff’s brother.
Those dollars, he said, go “from the Stand Up for Heroes stage to programs across the country delivering everything from mental health care to apartments for homeless veterans and legal help for veterans in need of their earned benefits, to employment programs for veterans navigating the civilian transition.”
The foundation is aiming to raise $4 million at the anniversary show, money that feeds the more than $15 million in grants it sends to local veteran programs each year, Woodruff said. He described a deliberate effort to move the money fast. “We don’t believe in red tape or lip service,” he said. “We fund programs that work and we do it quickly.”
Bob Woodruff Foundation was created by ABC News correspondent and his wife, Lee, after Woodruff was nearly killed by a roadside bomb while covering the Iraq War in 2006. He suffered a traumatic brain injury from the blast, and his recovery gave the foundation its focus on the wounds service members carry home.
Chief executive of the foundation, Anne Marie Dougherty, described the organization’s aim as being a steady source of support for veterans and the families and caregivers who stand behind them.
“No matter what is going on in the world, we remain a reliable backbone of support for our veterans and the military families and caregivers who make service possible,” Dougherty said in a statement announcing the event.
From One Night to an Institution
Stand Up for Heroes began as what its founders expected to be a single concert. New York Comedy Festival founders Caroline Hirsch and Andrew Fox created it with the Woodruffs in 2007, pairing well-known comedians and musicians with veterans’ and service members’ stories on the same stage.
“Twenty years ago we put together Stand Up for Heroes with a simple idea: bring people together with laughter and music in honor of those who have sacrificed so much for our country,” Woodruff said in a statement. “When we started this way back in 2007, we thought it would just be a one-time concert. But it’s become one of the most meaningful nights of the year.”
Two decades in, the foundation is framing the anniversary as a pledge to those still serving. “We’re making a new promise to the next generation of heroes that we will always have your back when you take the uniform off,” Dave Woodruff said, adding that the foundation plans to fund more than 2,000 proven organizations over the next several years. “It’s our job to keep pace with what our heroes deserve.”
Veterans and military families who need help can find the foundation’s network of more than 400 partner organizations at bobwoodrufffoundation.org. “We work day and night to connect people with the help they needed wherever they live and whatever they’re going through,” Woodruff said.
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