Speaker 1: Twenty years ago, twenty two decades ago. This September eleven,
Speaker 1: nearly three thousand lives were lost in the coordinated attacks
Speaker 1: upon the World Trade Center, New York City, the Pentagon
Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. And in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where hijacked
Speaker 1: United Airlines Flight nine crashed after passengers sacrificed their own
Speaker 1: lives to prevent the terrorists from carrying out their larger mission.
Speaker 1: On this day, New York City firefighter Stephen Siller ran
Speaker 1: with other first responders through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to
Speaker 1: the Twin Tours, where he gave his life saving others.
Speaker 1: Since that day, Stephen's brother, Frank Siller, has made it
Speaker 1: his mission to provide mortgage free homes to gold star
Speaker 1: and fallen first responder families with young children, and to
Speaker 1: build custom designed smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and
Speaker 1: first responders, as a way of honoring his little brother's
Speaker 1: sacrifice and all who gave their lives for us. On
Speaker 1: September eleventh, two thousand and one, Frank founded the Tunnel
Speaker 1: Two Towers Foundation Tunnel because his brother Stephen ran through
Speaker 1: the tunnel to the towers. He founded the organization in
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, and he has served as chairman,
Speaker 1: which is an unpaid volunteer position since its inception. It's
Speaker 1: his whole life mission. It supports America's heroes in their
Speaker 1: families and helps our nation to keep its commitment to
Speaker 1: never forget. This is going to be a powerful and
Speaker 1: moving episode of Loves Someone. I suggest you settle in,
Speaker 1: grab some tissue, prepare yourself for some strong emotional responses.
Speaker 1: I am honored to hear Frank's story and to help
Speaker 1: him share it with all of the We will be
Speaker 1: speaking with Frank Siller, founder of Tunnel two Towers next.
Speaker 1: Right now, I want to give some well deserved credit
Speaker 1: to one of my amazing podcast sponsors who make this
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Speaker 1: Love Someone. That's b E T T E r h
Speaker 1: E l P dot com slash love Someone. Over one
Speaker 1: million people have taken charge of their mental health with
Speaker 1: Better Help. So welcome Frank to Love Someone. We chose
Speaker 1: the name of this podcast love Someone because that's my
Speaker 1: daily mission is to share real love in a dark world.
Speaker 1: And boy, have you been doing that In honor of
Speaker 1: your brother for twenty years now. Tunnels to Towers is
Speaker 1: the name of your organization to honor Stephen, your brother
Speaker 1: who paid the ultimate price. No greater love is there
Speaker 1: than this that you would lay down your life for
Speaker 1: a friend and he laid down his for complete strangers.
Speaker 1: So tell me about your brother and how that inspired
Speaker 1: you to birth this organization. Well, you know we have
Speaker 1: I have to go back to when my brother was
Speaker 1: a little boy. Really for people to understand the unbelovable
Speaker 1: loss that we had as a family. On September eleven,
Speaker 1: two thousand and one. So Stephen was the youngest of
Speaker 1: seven kids. My mother was forty I was forty five
Speaker 1: when she gave birth to my brother Stephen. Did she
Speaker 1: think she was done? Like had she like put all
Speaker 1: the toddler toys away, given them out at garage sales
Speaker 1: and was moving on fourteen years earlier because I was
Speaker 1: closest in age and I'm fourteen years older than Stephen,
Speaker 1: So he really was a surprise. No, he was a miracle.
Speaker 1: He was a little angel. He was a little miracle.
Speaker 1: And uh, he was just like the more of the family.
Speaker 1: It's just really very close. You know. My mother had
Speaker 1: six kids by the time she was thirty, and then
Speaker 1: she had him almost, like I said, forty five. And
Speaker 1: then so when he was eight and a half, my
Speaker 1: father died and a year and a half later my
Speaker 1: mom died. So at ten years old, he was really
Speaker 1: often although he was blessed that he had much older siblings.
Speaker 1: My brother Russ was twenty five years older than Stephen,
Speaker 1: and uh, like I said, I was the closest in
Speaker 1: age of fourteen years older, so I was in my twenties.
Speaker 1: My brother Russ was in his thirties when my parents died,
Speaker 1: so we raised him primarily my brother Russ Rockfell Sentiment,
Speaker 1: Long Island, but Stephen was born and raised on Staaten
Speaker 1: Island until he was ten years old and then was
Speaker 1: out in Rockfell Center. So he had a very early
Speaker 1: age realized that every day was precious, life was very precious.
Speaker 1: And then he you know, grows up, comes back to
Speaker 1: State night and lives at me for a short period time,
Speaker 1: gets reintroduced who a girl who used to walk to
Speaker 1: school with it when he was in the like second, third,
Speaker 1: fourth grade. You know, they fall in love, they get married.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it's it's a fairy tale, and
Speaker 1: they get married, they have five beautiful kids. Oh my word,
Speaker 1: he's on top of the world. He's on top of
Speaker 1: the world. He becomes a firefighter at age seven. He's
Speaker 1: got everything to live for. And then he's finished his
Speaker 1: night tour. On September elevens, two thousand and one, is
Speaker 1: on his way home to play golf with my brother Rush,
Speaker 1: my brother George, myself and him. The four brothers were
Speaker 1: going to play golf. He is on the radio scanner
Speaker 1: that the towers were hit. Goes back to his firehouse,
Speaker 1: gets his gear, goes to the mouth of the Brooklyn
Speaker 1: Battery Tunnel, where it's closed for security reasons. That tunnel
Speaker 1: is almost two miles long. He strapped sixty pounds of
Speaker 1: five year on his back and runs through that tunnel,
Speaker 1: comes out the other side, goes up West Street, goes
Speaker 1: into what we believe the South Tower because he was
Speaker 1: never recovered, but he lost the eleven firefighter brothers that
Speaker 1: he were with that day. They were all in the
Speaker 1: South Tower and Uh goes up those stairs and all
Speaker 1: saving people, he gives up his life. So we were
Speaker 1: just overcome with emotion, obviously just on the day itself,
Speaker 1: but then finding out what he did. We knew that
Speaker 1: we had to do something as a family to honor
Speaker 1: and respect not only what Stephen did that day, but
Speaker 1: so many heroes did that day. And that's why we
Speaker 1: started the Tunnel to Towers Foundation in honor of all
Speaker 1: those who perish, but most certainly my brother. Oh. I
Speaker 1: can tell you shared this story many times because you
Speaker 1: do it without hesitation. Well, it's a story I've been
Speaker 1: sharing for twenty years and look, our mission is pretty clear.
Speaker 1: It's very simple. We want to make sure we never forget.
Speaker 1: That's the number one mission, and we do a lot
Speaker 1: of beautiful things. We'll get to that, but the first
Speaker 1: mission is to never forget once again, not just Stephen,
Speaker 1: but all the two thousand, nine seventy seven souls that
Speaker 1: died that day. The second is to honor them, and
Speaker 1: we honor them by doing good. And doing good is
Speaker 1: something that we've been living by. My parents were Franciscans.
Speaker 1: San Francis said, brothers and sisters, while you have time,
Speaker 1: let us do good. And that is very simple, and
Speaker 1: that's our model that we live by. Let us do good.
Speaker 1: That's all the Foundation wants to do good. And we
Speaker 1: do good by taking care of the greatest of all Americans,
Speaker 1: those Delilah who are willing to die for you and
Speaker 1: for me. And that's what we did. We take care
Speaker 1: of the families that are left behind, and then we
Speaker 1: celebrate their lives. We have to celebrate their lives because
Speaker 1: they don't want us to be said. They want us
Speaker 1: to enjoy life the best that you can, because you'll
Speaker 1: have bad days. But we want to enjoy life the
Speaker 1: best you can, but you want to celebrate what they
Speaker 1: did and their lives, and you can only do that
Speaker 1: in the joyous way, and we do that all the time.
Speaker 1: We have a big run every year in September we
Speaker 1: emulate what Stephen did, his final heroic footsteps. We have
Speaker 1: forty people run through that tunnel, thousands of firefighters, thousands
Speaker 1: of police office running the turnout here, thousands of military
Speaker 1: rucket you know, they put their backpacks on phill it rocks,
Speaker 1: you name it. They fill it. They want that weight,
Speaker 1: they want that challenge, they want to respect what was
Speaker 1: done that day. It is just so moving. You come
Speaker 1: out of the Brooklyn Battery tunnel and when you run
Speaker 1: through it, it's almost, like I said, almost two miles long.
Speaker 1: When you come out, we have pictures of every five
Speaker 1: fighter and police officers that died that thing. When you
Speaker 1: come out of the tunnel, that's what you see. We're
Speaker 1: all lined up. We put a face to a number,
Speaker 1: and it's very important that these great Americans are aren't forgotten.
Speaker 1: So that's what you do. You come there. But at
Speaker 1: the end I called the Miracle the Lows. We feed
Speaker 1: all these thirty people and we have a music festival
Speaker 1: we're honoring them in a beautiful family way, and it's
Speaker 1: just the most patriotic day and event you can pass.
Speaker 1: So yeah, less but not least on that day. We
Speaker 1: have west points to debt that running cadence through that
Speaker 1: tunnel and that chanting, and they're running with a lot
Speaker 1: of the catastrophically agied service members that we built specially
Speaker 1: adopted mortgage free smart homes for and they're going through
Speaker 1: and they it's just I can't so that the cadets
Speaker 1: are in cadence with the wounded warriors, with the most
Speaker 1: catastrophically aged service members. That's what we built for the
Speaker 1: most catastrophically aged service members, double triple, quadruple empetees, quadriplegic paraplegics,
Speaker 1: and they're going through the tunnel to absolutely we had
Speaker 1: a quadruple MPT Todd nicely second quadruple empathy ever survived
Speaker 1: in the battlefield. He's out of St. Louis. He puts
Speaker 1: on his prosthetics. By the way, it takes him about
Speaker 1: an hour to get ready in the morning, just to
Speaker 1: get out of bed, but he puts on all four
Speaker 1: his proscetics. He does the run. He runs through that tunnel,
Speaker 1: and it's it's just incredible. A lot of them have
Speaker 1: to be in wheelchairs. People have helped, you know, we
Speaker 1: push them, you know, through on their wheelchairs. Whatever others
Speaker 1: do us a bite, whatever it may be. We have
Speaker 1: so many catastrophically agi of service members that do it.
Speaker 1: And yes, West Point that's are guarding them. It's like
Speaker 1: an honor God. They run alongside of them and they're
Speaker 1: chanting and they say, it's just so uplifting, it's incredible.
Speaker 1: Have you made a movie or a documentary just about that. Documentaries, Yes,
Speaker 1: we have just that picture you just painted alone of
Speaker 1: these young fresh faced cadets. Yes, in uniform, I'm guessing,
Speaker 1: or in fatigues. Yeah, they're you know the tees. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's incredible. I mean just just that mental image right
Speaker 1: now is breaking my heart in such a good way. Well, now,
Speaker 1: then they go down the West Point of Debts, go
Speaker 1: down to ground zero, and the commandant or superintendent they
Speaker 1: go there and they and they go to ground zero
Speaker 1: right there, and they talk about the importance of why
Speaker 1: they're serving their country and they say, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: look at those guys that you just ran with, you know,
Speaker 1: look at the sacrifice they made. And you're willing to
Speaker 1: sign up and do that because we're all volunteer military.
Speaker 1: We were blessed in this country that we have Americans
Speaker 1: are willing to stand up and protect us. It's incredible.
Speaker 1: So it's just the whole day is very emotional, but
Speaker 1: it's so beautiful and so uplifting too because, like I said,
Speaker 1: my brother ran through that tunnel, but he came out
Speaker 1: the other side. Now he came out the other side
Speaker 1: to help. So as a family, we chose that when
Speaker 1: we go through our tunnel, our sadness or despair, the
Speaker 1: loss of our little brother and of so many others.
Speaker 1: I lost a lot of friends that say, besides, and
Speaker 1: we have to come through that tone come out the
Speaker 1: other side, and we have to help. And that's what
Speaker 1: our foundation does. We want to make sure we take
Speaker 1: care of these families because not what's what he serves
Speaker 1: and could be a military, it could be a police officer,
Speaker 1: could be a firefighter, law enforcement union. When somebody serves,
Speaker 1: the whole family serves. Yeah, amen to that. My My
Speaker 1: oldest son is a police officer and his whole family.
Speaker 1: He has four kids and a wife that's been by
Speaker 1: his side through thick and thin through the tunnels of
Speaker 1: life for you know, almost two decades now and they
Speaker 1: all pay the price, they all served. They all it's
Speaker 1: not a job, it's a life, it's a calling. So tunnels,
Speaker 1: the Talas Foundation and the people listening, they can go
Speaker 1: to t the number two, T dot org T the
Speaker 1: number two and T dot org Tunnels to towers is
Speaker 1: what it stands for. Right, and we asked people donate
Speaker 1: as little as eleven dollars a month. But listen, this
Speaker 1: is our promise in our contract. We when we want
Speaker 1: people to join us on our mission that when these
Speaker 1: great American heroes go serve the community or their country,
Speaker 1: right and they give their kids a kiss goodbye and
Speaker 1: they don't come home, we want to deliver them a
Speaker 1: mortgage free home. So if they have a mortgage three
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollar mortgage, whatever it is, four to fifty,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, we want to pay that mortgage off.
Speaker 1: Because that should be the promise that we have as
Speaker 1: Americans to these families that if they're willing to protect
Speaker 1: us and willing to die for us, and when that happens,
Speaker 1: because it does happen, that we're going to take care
Speaker 1: of their families and that's all promised as a foundation
Speaker 1: that we're going to take care every every first responder
Speaker 1: in America that dies in the line of duty that
Speaker 1: leaves a young family behind. And we've been doing that,
Speaker 1: but we only do because people go and join us
Speaker 1: on a mission, donate as littles eleven dollars a month.
Speaker 1: You know, many hands makes light work, and that's why
Speaker 1: we count on many people to join us. How many
Speaker 1: people do you think participate in the runs that happen
Speaker 1: every year, Well, just two or three hundred people. And
Speaker 1: I'm and some runs have six seven thousand, but our
Speaker 1: run has forty thou so, uh, you know, so hundreds
Speaker 1: of thousands of people. But we have stair climbs, we
Speaker 1: have golf outings, we have events that people put on
Speaker 1: for us all over America because they want to join us.
Speaker 1: Because you know what, here's the thing. We're four stall rating.
Speaker 1: That's the highs you can get. We're a hundred transparency
Speaker 1: and last year in we just did our tax return,
Speaker 1: we're ninety five cents of every dollar goes to our programs.
Speaker 1: I don't get paid, my siblings don't get paid. We
Speaker 1: have tens of thousands of volunteers we deliver. We don't
Speaker 1: just say we deliver it so people could see where
Speaker 1: their money goes. So you see this picture here, it's
Speaker 1: with forty eight Medal of Honor recipients, forty eight of them.
Speaker 1: They sent it to me. It's a beautiful picture. Of course,
Speaker 1: my picture of me and my wife and my six grandchildren.
Speaker 1: That's the most important picture to me. Uh And portraits
Speaker 1: of people that have sacrificed. It's all about family for us,
Speaker 1: but it's also about a country. We're going to take
Speaker 1: a break right now. We're talking with the gentleman who
Speaker 1: started the Tunnels to Tower organization charity project, and we
Speaker 1: will come right back and talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about your heart, about your passion, and about ways that
Speaker 1: people can get involved. This podcast episode is all about
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Speaker 1: That's Mercy Ships dot org slash love. We are back,
Speaker 1: and I'm kind of quiet today. I'm kind of subdued
Speaker 1: because when we open this podcast, you were describing what
Speaker 1: Stephen did one eleven running through the tunnel, and my
Speaker 1: podcast producer sent me all the information beforehand, so I
Speaker 1: knew that I get like that all the time. So
Speaker 1: you're very genuine and I and I appreciate it, and uh,
Speaker 1: it is heartbreaking, but it is so inspiring what my
Speaker 1: brother did, and that he inspired us to be better,
Speaker 1: not better. That's amazing because if that were my little brother,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I wouldn't be a little bit better. No,
Speaker 1: I was better. I can't tell you I wasn't. That
Speaker 1: being said, I know that he doesn't want us to
Speaker 1: be said. We want to do good in this world
Speaker 1: and and then most certainly for our country, so that
Speaker 1: that's what we focus on. What a gift of peace
Speaker 1: that must be for thousands of people, and it is
Speaker 1: thousands and yes. And I call almost every single widow
Speaker 1: myself and I talked to them. Over the last twenty years.
Speaker 1: I've learned how to speak to somebody who is grieving
Speaker 1: and such an unbelievable loss. And I I almost every
Speaker 1: one of them. I say, Tom, do you believe in
Speaker 1: life after death? No one said no to me, be
Speaker 1: quite frank with you, and they say, yes, I do,
Speaker 1: and I and then I changed and I said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about for your husband. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: for you. Is life after death for you? And you
Speaker 1: have to realize that the best way to honor somebody.
Speaker 1: And I'm not telling anybody had to grieve and how
Speaker 1: to get through things, not doing that, but I think
Speaker 1: the best way to honor somebody is to have a full,
Speaker 1: good life, live a good life. And they have to
Speaker 1: realize and in the beginning, of course, you just can't
Speaker 1: even get out of bed, almost in the beginning, But
Speaker 1: then when they realize that people care, that's important. And
Speaker 1: I think that that's a message that we bring to
Speaker 1: these widows, well widow, is that people care. They don't
Speaker 1: know me, that we're somebody that they didn't even know.
Speaker 1: And here we are saying we're gonna pay off your
Speaker 1: mortgage and you're gonna be able to stay in the
Speaker 1: house that you were making all the memories with your
Speaker 1: husband and your kids and you can stay there. And
Speaker 1: that's a tremendous burden lift off that family, tremendous financial work.
Speaker 1: Because we all know the biggest expense we all have
Speaker 1: right is our mortgage and that it's done. So what
Speaker 1: does that do That enables some of these families with
Speaker 1: the mother or father can stay home and or work
Speaker 1: part times a full time, two jobs or whatever to
Speaker 1: pay mortgage and two and to feed your kids. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's hard enough to lose one parent, and like you said,
Speaker 1: if the parent left behind then has to assume that
Speaker 1: financial obligation. You lose two parents. Yes, you lose the
Speaker 1: parent who passed on and you lose the parent who
Speaker 1: has now gone, you know, eighteen hours a day trying
Speaker 1: to provide. So you're right, you're you're giving those kids
Speaker 1: mom or dad, whoever is left behind, You're giving them
Speaker 1: them more fully. And how did I mean, how did
Speaker 1: this come to you? Like you're grieving you lost your
Speaker 1: baby brother. He was never recovered so now you've got
Speaker 1: grief on top of grief. I lost a brother in
Speaker 1: an airplane accident. We didn't have the body, we didn't
Speaker 1: have the remains, we didn't know what happened for years.
Speaker 1: So I know that compounded grief of not having that closure.
Speaker 1: How long after you lost Stephen, Frank, did you go
Speaker 1: you know what I could do? This I could help
Speaker 1: I could help impact the lives of families like Stevens.
Speaker 1: Walk me through that process. How God imparted that upon
Speaker 1: your heart? The truth is we've been guided the whole way.
Speaker 1: Albeit we did decide very early on. I remember talking
Speaker 1: to my sister in law, and this is only weeks
Speaker 1: after my brother was gone. I said, I think we
Speaker 1: should start a foundation to honor what Stephen did and
Speaker 1: help kids. Why not help, you know, these kids that
Speaker 1: are left behind when they died in the line of duty.
Speaker 1: So that's when we first thought it. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you we were doing a lot. But in two
Speaker 1: thousand and ten, the first ever quadruple amputee that ever
Speaker 1: survived any war was from where Stephen was born where
Speaker 1: I was born, in stan Island, New York, and I
Speaker 1: went down to visit him and Walter Reid Army Medical Centers.
Speaker 1: Name is Sawgeant Brenda Morocco, and I was down there.
Speaker 1: I was talking to him, and I said, Brenda, kind
Speaker 1: the tunnels, the tower was foundation, build you a mortgage
Speaker 1: free home. And he accepted, and we've delivered June eleventh,
Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven. So it was almost on the
Speaker 1: tenth anniversaries, three months of the tenth anniversary nine eleven.
Speaker 1: So we were doing a lot, you know, raising a
Speaker 1: million dollars a year, seven hundred thousand dollars or whatever
Speaker 1: up it to that point. But now we built this house,
Speaker 1: had raised the coast over seven hundred thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: build this house in the New York area. I don't
Speaker 1: have to tell you that. And um, we put all
Speaker 1: this small technology in it. And then there was two
Speaker 1: more quadruple emputees right away that survived. And we said, well,
Speaker 1: we built for Brendon, we have to build for these
Speaker 1: two guys. So I'm down to Walter read all the time.
Speaker 1: We meet more and more, so it ends up being
Speaker 1: five quaduble amputees. But there's thirty eight triple amputees. I
Speaker 1: was visiting, So I said on the anniversary the tenth
Speaker 1: Anniversity nine eleven, we had a small concert. We told
Speaker 1: stories of nine eleven. We told some stories of different families.
Speaker 1: We didn't even tell my brother's story. We told other
Speaker 1: people's stories, right, And I was on the stage giving
Speaker 1: a few words, and I said, look, we're building these
Speaker 1: houses for troople emputees. There's thirty eight triple emputees. And said,
Speaker 1: now we're going to build these thirty eight houses for
Speaker 1: tree blamp. Out of your mouth came that commitment. And
Speaker 1: then you're like, oh, wait a minute. I said it
Speaker 1: out loud, and I do that all the time, Delilah.
Speaker 1: That's what I learned in life. Say it out loud,
Speaker 1: and you have to complete it. So I said it
Speaker 1: out loud that day my sisters, and what, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what's he throwing up there? You know, because to fathom
Speaker 1: that is millions of dollars. But I know God takes
Speaker 1: care of us because we're so pure that what we're
Speaker 1: doing is so pure. I know they would attract people
Speaker 1: to us that can help us build these houses. I
Speaker 1: had the utmost confidence, and we have. We built so
Speaker 1: many of these smart homes all over the country. But
Speaker 1: that's how we started with smart homes. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you how we started with paying off the mortgages
Speaker 1: for police officers and first responders. December twenty of two
Speaker 1: thousand and fourteen, New York City, there was two police
Speaker 1: officers sitting in their car and somebody come up out
Speaker 1: of Baltimore and they thought it was all right to
Speaker 1: kilicopters because they had a blue uniform up and it
Speaker 1: came out and assassinate him sitting in their cup just
Speaker 1: Bom detectors Loo and detectives ramas you probably remember it.
Speaker 1: It was, yeah. So I went and visited the family
Speaker 1: on Christmas Eve. We went there and we heard that
Speaker 1: they were concerned about their mortgages and how they're gonna
Speaker 1: stay in the house. Bees. These were the read winners
Speaker 1: of the family, and we said, we're gonna pay off
Speaker 1: your mortgage. We raised enough money in ten days not
Speaker 1: only pay off the mortgage, but we remodeled their homes.
Speaker 1: So I saw the difference did that make? And I said,
Speaker 1: you know what, we gotta do this now for all
Speaker 1: police officers and first responders. So we took on that commitment,
Speaker 1: and you know what, because more and more people join us.
Speaker 1: Once again t the number two t dot org sty
Speaker 1: is a tunnel two towers t the number two T
Speaker 1: dot org. They donate eleven dollars a month. We're able
Speaker 1: to take care of these families, but I need a
Speaker 1: lot more. My hope is and I pray for this.
Speaker 1: You know that we had a million people join us
Speaker 1: on this mission. We could take care of every police officer,
Speaker 1: every firefighter, every first respond to, every military personnel that
Speaker 1: dies online of duty. And it leave young kids behind
Speaker 1: every year, forever, forever. That's Frank. My show has never
Speaker 1: been and never will be political. I will never take
Speaker 1: a political stand because my I want my show to
Speaker 1: be inclusive and I don't want anyone to ever feel
Speaker 1: that they don't belong. And that was just the point
Speaker 1: I was going to make. The beautiful thing about what
Speaker 1: you're doing is if you if you have an ounce
Speaker 1: of gratitude in your heart for the country that we
Speaker 1: of in the lifestyles we've been blessed with the freedoms
Speaker 1: we enjoy, saying thank you in a tangible way. It's
Speaker 1: one thing, you know. I always walk up whenever I
Speaker 1: see anybody in uniform, anybody, firefighter, police officer, military person.
Speaker 1: I always try to walk over and say thank you.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the sacrifices you make, and that might hopefully
Speaker 1: touch their heart for a minute. But if you truly
Speaker 1: want to put your love in action, and you truly
Speaker 1: want to say thank you, what a beautiful way to
Speaker 1: do it. Two cups of coffee a month I drink,
Speaker 1: you know, I drink dirty chai latte is about once
Speaker 1: a week. I don't drink coffee. I'm a tea drinker.
Speaker 1: But about once a week I might treat myself and
Speaker 1: go through a coffee stand. And if I decided not
Speaker 1: to do that, that would be about twenty bucks a month.
Speaker 1: Bucks a month that I could easily and never even
Speaker 1: miss never you never miss it. And and people can
Speaker 1: watch when we delivered these house, they could say I
Speaker 1: was part of that. It's that's how the beauty of it.
Speaker 1: I helped give this military guys family who died for
Speaker 1: our country a votygage free home. Or I helped this
Speaker 1: firefighter who ran up a building and fell through a
Speaker 1: floor and died left kids behind. I helped pay their mortgage.
Speaker 1: Speaking of kids, how are Steven's kids? You said he
Speaker 1: had five there, They're great kids, the great individuals so
Speaker 1: we're blessing that. But listen, they were fortunate, they were
Speaker 1: surrounded by a lot of love. On My sister in
Speaker 1: law's family is phenomenal, and they've stepped up. They've just
Speaker 1: been terrific. And you know, as far as our family
Speaker 1: is concerned, with such pain, the asses, you couldn't get
Speaker 1: rid of us, even if even if you so, you know,
Speaker 1: we said to say we knew the routine because we
Speaker 1: know that. You know, when Stephen went through when he
Speaker 1: was a little boy. Now now his kids have to
Speaker 1: go through that. But how many lives has your brother's
Speaker 1: life in the sacrifice he made impacted. I I agree
Speaker 1: with you. It's incredible. And one day he'll he will
Speaker 1: be joined with a lot of special people, there's no
Speaker 1: question about it. In the meantime, we got a whole
Speaker 1: lot of living to do and a whole lot of
Speaker 1: houses to build. Exactly, So T the number two T tunnel,
Speaker 1: two towers dot org. But you go to T the
Speaker 1: number two T dot org, T the number two T
Speaker 1: dot org. All right, Well, hopefully many many people will say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't need that coffee. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: donate eleven dollars a month or maybe they'll say I
Speaker 1: lost my brother, I lost my sister, I lost my mom,
Speaker 1: and the their their memory. I'm going to donate my
Speaker 1: coffee every week, but I'm gonna also step up and
Speaker 1: donate one for mom or dad. Think how many houses
Speaker 1: we could build in we I'm already a part of it.
Speaker 1: We like it. I like the way you're saying that,
Speaker 1: but that's exactly what I want. I want everyone to
Speaker 1: take ownership and say we delivered this house. That's what
Speaker 1: I want. It is not about just my brother, It's
Speaker 1: about the people we help. And if everybody comes together,
Speaker 1: we as a contry, we can take care of the
Speaker 1: greatest of all Americans. Here. Here's the thing. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people feel helpless right now watching things
Speaker 1: go on around us that are just mind boggling, and
Speaker 1: a lot of us feel frustrated because we are powerless
Speaker 1: to do anything. But by doing this, by joining your efforts,
Speaker 1: by making a donation, by getting involved, by doing the runs,
Speaker 1: by sponsoring a run, how many people listening to my
Speaker 1: voice and say you know what I do that I
Speaker 1: could organize twenty of my best friends and we could
Speaker 1: do a nine eleven run, and we could raise money.
Speaker 1: We could ask for pledges, we could get our kids involved.
Speaker 1: We could have our kids do uh an obstacle course
Speaker 1: at the farm, and we could raise money. They could
Speaker 1: get pledges and we could donate that too, tunnel to
Speaker 1: towers and impact the lives of our first responders. It's
Speaker 1: a it's a really sweet way to feel empowered to
Speaker 1: make a difference, and it's a great way to get
Speaker 1: your family two as kids that don't even know about
Speaker 1: what happened on nine eleven, it's a dautiful thing everything.
Speaker 1: And look, kids are magnificent. You give them an opportunity
Speaker 1: to do something good, they're gonna do it. But they
Speaker 1: only take the lead from their parents. And as parents,
Speaker 1: we better make sure and grandparents that we set a
Speaker 1: good example, that we take care of the people that
Speaker 1: give us this country. As you said earlier, Delilah, right
Speaker 1: we live in this great country is because we are
Speaker 1: beautiful people that protect us, that give us this way
Speaker 1: of life. And it comes a price with that and
Speaker 1: price in some cases are paid by the ultimate sacrifice.
Speaker 1: And we better take care of these families. It's that simple.
Speaker 1: T the number two T dot org go there now.
Speaker 1: As soon as you finished listening to this podcast t
Speaker 1: the number two t dot org and be a blessing
Speaker 1: and impact someone's lives. Thank you, thank you, Thank you, Frank.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here with us. Thank you. It
Speaker 1: was beautiful. Hopefully we do this again one day, all right,
Speaker 1: thank you night. Twenty years ago seems like a long time,
Speaker 1: but for those who were there, for those who lost
Speaker 1: their loved ones, their friends, their co workers, their neighbors,
Speaker 1: or their brother, that day is vivid and wrong. For
Speaker 1: America and for the world, our trust in our fellow
Speaker 1: man was shaken. Frank and those who worked tirelessly to
Speaker 1: support not only not only the first responders families from
Speaker 1: nine eleven, but our military and our first responders today
Speaker 1: are doing their part to revive our trust and goodness
Speaker 1: and hope, because while we will never forget the tragedies
Speaker 1: of nine eleven, we also must never stop believing that
Speaker 1: love wins. Frank sat down with me just before he
Speaker 1: embarked upon his commemorative never Forget Walk, a five hundred
Speaker 1: mile journey that will see him trekking through six states
Speaker 1: in six weeks time. He kicked it off on August
Speaker 1: one at the Pentagon in Washington, d C. And is
Speaker 1: now twenty four days into his mission that will also
Speaker 1: take him through Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and will end up at
Speaker 1: Ground Zero in New York City on September eleven. He'll
Speaker 1: be joined by gold Star and Fallen first responder family members,
Speaker 1: nine eleven family members, firefighters, law enforcement, veterans, dignitaries, and
Speaker 1: others along the route. In the final segment on nine
Speaker 1: eleven one, Frank will retrace his brother's footsteps as he
Speaker 1: raced towards the Towers twenty years ago. I am so
Speaker 1: grateful to Frank and those like him who take it
Speaker 1: upon themselves to do good. When we first started the conversation,
Speaker 1: he said he wants to do good. You can to
Speaker 1: learn more about Tunnel to Towers Foundation t the number
Speaker 1: two t T two t dot org followed Tunnel to
Speaker 1: Towers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram at Tunnel two Towers. Thank
Speaker 1: you for taking the time to be with us today
Speaker 1: as we told Stephen's story. Join me here on Love
Speaker 1: Someone next time, and on the air each and every night.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm on the air every night right where
Speaker 1: I do my best to shine a light of love
Speaker 1: into dark corners to soothe some aching hearts. And to
Speaker 1: ask you to remind you to reach out and love
Speaker 1: some den I love