Bruce Springsteen at WhyHunger’s 50th Anniversary Hungerthon, photo by Andrew Wolff

On Sunday night, WhyHunger hosted its 50th Anniversary Hungerthon Benefit Concert, welcoming high-profile guests to advance its mission and celebrate its legacy.

On the storied stage of Asbury Park, N.J.’s Stone Pony, the organization welcomed talents like Stevie Van Zandt & The Disciples of Soul with Marc Ribler, Young the Giant’s Sameer Gadhia & Eric Cannata, Yola and a surprise appearance from Bruce Springsteen.

Springsteen joined at the end of the show to a roar from the close-quarters audience. Though the rock legend’s return to his old haunt wasn’t entirely shocking, given his history of working with WhyHunger and The E Street Band’s Van Zandt and Garry Tallent on the bill, it generated enough of a response to somehow trip a fire alarm.

After pacing around and working his hard-earned crowd-work skills while the venue lights flashed, Springsteen restarted his headline set with Southside Johnny’s 1976 essential “I Don’t Want to Go Home,” followed by a spontaneous take on Born to Run cut “10th Avenue Freeze-Out,” featuring co-lead vocals from Van Zandt.

Springsteen and his longtime collaborators riffed on the impromptu nature of their setlist, then got into the holiday spirit with “Merry Christmas Baby” and a ripping 10-minute jam on “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” the latter of which was telegraphed by a chant from the crowd during the fire alarm intermission.

Earlier performers who supported WhyHunger’s anniversary celebration included   The Smithereens’ Jim Babjak and Dennis Diken, Danny Clinch (who also sat in with Tallent), Jimmy Vivino and Mark Barden, Dixie Dregs and a performance of “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Steve Chapin & The Original Harry Chapin Band, honoring WhyHunger co-founder Harry Chapin.

WhyHunger was founded by Chapin and Bill Ayres in 1975 to fight food insecurity through artist activism.

Five decades after its establishment, the organization operates in 24 countries to protect the human right to nutrition and, over the last five years alone, has connected 5.3 million people to food and invested $10.8 million in community-led projects.

All proceeds from the Hungerthon Benefit Concert went to WhyHunger, raising more than $200,000, as well as food donations collected on-site for distribution to the food bank Fulfill of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

Learn more about WhyHunger and its mission at whyhunger.org.