Staten Island, NY, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is honoring the memory of 30 American heroes by delivering forever homes to the families they left behind.
Tunnel to Towers provided 21 Gold Star families and nine fallen first responders families with prior military service, with a mortgage-free home, or paid-off the mortgage on their existing home.
“To all of the families who know the true meaning of Memorial Day, I thank you for your service and sacrifice. We know that no service member serves alone. It is our honor to support these families who have sacrificed so much so we can all enjoy the freedoms America has to offer,” said Frank Siller Chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
The 30 families are located in 17 states stretching to every corner of this country:
- US Navy Petty Officer First Class Robert Vetter - Oceanside, CA
- USMC Sergeant Miguel Ortiz - Vista, CA
- USMC Corporal Robby Reyes - Rancho Cucamonga, CA
- Border Patrol Agent Alejandro Flores-Bañuelos - Indio, CA
- US Army Private First Class Brian Bates Jr - Hammond, LA
- US National Guard Chief Warrant Officer 3 André Chenevert - Greenwell Springs, LA
- USMC Sergeant Germany Vargas Silvestre - Hampstead, NC
- USMC Captain Steven Torbert - Jacksonville, NC
- US Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Harris - Clarksville, TN
- US Army Sergeant John Castro - Clarksville, TN
- Dickson County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Daniel Baker - Columbia, TN
- USMC Sergeant Jay Hoskins - Powderly, TX
- Carrollton Police Officer Steven Nothem II - Carrollton, TX
- Double Oak Police Officer John Mestas - Burleson, TX
- US Army First Lieutenant Jonathan Rozier - Katy, TX
- US Army Private First Class Christopher McCloud - Killean, TX
- Fountain Police Officer Julian Becerra - Colorado Springs, CO
- US Army Staff Sergeant Micah Walker - Fountain, CO
- US Army Sergeant Jameel Freeman Sr. - Odenton, MD
- Frederick County Sheriff’s Office Deputy First Class Kenneth Olander - Frederick, MD
- Hernando County Sheriff’s Office Deputy John Mecklenburg - Brooksville, FL
- US Army Sergeant Major Samuel Baidoos - New Windsor, NY
- USMC Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum - Pelzer, SC
- USMC Lance Corporal Ronald Freeman - Warner Robins, GA
- US Army Specialist Simone Robinson - Oak Forest, IL
- US Army Staff Sergeant - Christopher Moudry - Port Allegany, PA
- US Army Sergeant Dash Cheatham - Cottonwood, AZ
- US Airforce Tech Sergeant Wesley Kubie - Tecumseh, KS
- Washington Township Firefighter Charles Swank - Butler, OH
- US Army Staff Sergeant Stephen Sutherland - North Pole, AK
Outside Chicago, in the village of Oak Forest, Tunnel to Towers gathered to welcome the family of Army Sargent Simone Robinson into their new mortgage-free home. SGT Robinson was five months into her deployment when an IED detonated near her security post in Kabul Afghanistan. She died weeks later on March 1st. The 21-year-old left behind her mother, Regina Byther, and her daughter, Nyzia Wilson, who was just two years old when her mother was killed.
On April 11, 2012, USMC Corporal Robby Reyes was killed in a helicopter crash while serving as the crew chief on the aircraft on deployment in Morocco. Cpl Reyes enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2007 and graduated from flight school in 2009. He left behind his wife, Candice, and their young daughter. Tunnel to Towers paid off the mortgage on their home in Rancho Cucamonga.
“Having a mortgage-free home provides the comfort and security of knowing this will be the permanent home my daughter will grow up in. She will graduate from the same high school her parents graduated from. When she leaves for college this home will always be here for her to come home to,” said Candice Reyes.
The Tunnel to Towers Gold Star Family Home Program honors the legacy of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country by paying off the mortgage or providing the surviving spouses and young children with mortgage-free homes. The Tunnel to Towers Fallen First Responder Program pays off the mortgages for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty or pass away from 9/11-related illnesses, and leave behind young children.
Join us on our mission to provide mortgage-free homes to the families these heroes leave behind by donating $11 per month please visit T2T.org.
About the Tunnel to Towers Foundation
Born from the tragedy of 9/11, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation carries out its mission to “do good,” by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and by building specially-adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. Tunnel to Towers is also committed to eradicating veteran homelessness and helping America Never Forget September 11, 2001.
Visit T2T.org to learn more and follow Tunnel to Towers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Attachments
- Illinois Gold Star Family Receives Mortgage Free Home from Tunnel to Towers Foundation
- USMC Corporal Robby Reyes
