Family bids $5,200 to see the Boss

Springsteen to match amount going to food bank

By Chris Rosenblum

Dave Stinebring and his family paid a hefty premium for their Bruce Springsteen tickets.

But charity, not scalpers, will profit.

The Stinebrings, who live near Centre Hall, recently won four tickets and backstage passes to Friday’s concert at the Bryce Jordan Center in a benefit auction for the Food Bank of the State College Area. Their winning bid was $5,200.

Promoting food banks at every stop of his tour, Springsteen gave the tickets and agreed to match any amount raised — an offer the Stinebrings, big Bruce fans, thought truly rocked.

“The fact that he’s doing this for people in need really says a lot for him,” Dave Stinebring said. “He’s always done this and thought about the regular people.”

Retired from Penn State’s Applied Research Lab, Stinebring and his wife, Nicki, a nurse practitioner, caught Springsteen’s last State College concert nine years ago and loved it. But when tickets disappeared quickly for the Boss’ return, they despaired of seeing the E Street Band again.

Then came the auction, a second chance for a live “Hungry Heart” while helping to feed people. Dave Stinebring bid $3,500 to start, then $5,000, and finally $5,200 to win.

“That was very close to my ceiling,” he said.

Now, the Stinebrings and their two daughters, Andrea and Haley Wallace, have choice seats, though they’ll find out Friday exactly where they are. Knowing the food bank will receive $10,400 — and that every $1 donation translates to $4 of groceries — makes the coup even sweeter.

“Those are the real heroes, the volunteers and the workers there,” Dave Stinebring said.

Concert-goers are also being asked to donate cash, non-perishable food items and grocery gift cards to the Food Bank at the Bryce Jordan Center on Friday evening.

Not included in the auction prize is a meeting with Springsteen himself; that required a bid of more than $10,000. But Stinebring can always hope he runs into the Boss backstage. If that happens, he knows what he’ll say.

“I would just like to thank him for thinking enough of people in need, that he would do something like this,” he said. “It raises a lot of awareness.”

Chris Rosenblum can be reached at 231-4620.