May 21, 2025 • 39 mins
When Frank Siller lost his younger brother Stephen on 9/11, he made a promise: to honor his sacrifice and make sure no hero is ever forgotten. In this powerful Arroyo Grande episode, Frank shares the deeply personal story behind the founding of Tunnel to Towers—from growing up in a tight-knit, faith-filled family to the moment Stephen ran toward the Twin Towers and never came home.
What began as a tribute 5K has grown into one of America’s most impactful charitable organizations. Tunnel to Towers now builds mortgage-free smart homes for injured veterans, pays off the homes of fallen first responders, and provides permanent housing and services for thousands of homeless vets across the country. Frank reveals the moments—both miraculous and hard-fought—that shaped this mission and continue to fuel it today.
As we approach Memorial Day, this episode is a stirring reminder of what selfless service looks like—and what we owe those who give everything. Support the mission at T2T.org 🇺🇸
🔔 Subscribe for more inspiring conversations: Arroyo Grande, available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, and everywhere you listen, watch & stream.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
He is founder of Tunnel to Towers, which has helped
tens of thousands of veterans and first responders across the country.
His personal story of loss, family and purpose is one
you have to hear. Frank Siller is my guest on
this Arroyo Grande. Come on, I'm Raymond Arroyo. Welcome to
(00:30):
Arroyo Grande. Go subscribe to the show. Now turn the
notifications on. Do that. I don't want you to miss
anything that's coming. We're about to celebrate Memorial Day here
in the United States, and when you think of honoring
the sacrifice of our fighting men and women and first responders,
Tunnel to Towers instantly comes to mind. Frank Killer founded
the organization back in two thousand and one, and though
(00:52):
you may have seen the commercials, the personal loss that
drove him, the love and the purpose he's found is
something you have to hear. I'm honored to be joined
by Frank Siller. Frank, thanks for being here. You are
one of seven kids. Tell me how close you were
to your younger brother, Stephen when your parents died. He
was a child, he was like ten years old.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yes, yeah, when Stephen was born. My father was forty nine,
my mother was forty four, so he was a little miracle.
And we were much older older siblings were much older.
My brother Russ was twenty four years older than him,
and I was closest in.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Age and I was in the eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I was already fourteen years old, so you could see
the big difference in age. So yeah, So my father
died when he was eight and a half and a
year and a half later our mom died, so at
ten years old, he was orphaned. And you know, we
all played a major role in his upbringing, you know,
not only being brothers or sisters, but being parent figures
(01:54):
in his life and primarily live with my oldest brother
Russ in rock Fall Center with his wife Jacqueline, and
it was it was a crushing time in our lives
for sure, but you know, we focused everything on Stephen,
and it's he grew up to be an outrageous human
being to say the last.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, well, I love that you gathered around Stephen when
he was younger and orphaned, you know, in your parents' death,
and and how the whole family surrounded him even in
his passing, which we'll get to an a moment. Tell
me about your parents though, I was fascinated by your parents,
George and May. They're they're a big part not only
of Stephen's service, but yours. Tell me about how their
(02:39):
faith and philosophy colored Stephen's career.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, thank you for mentioning in that, because they are
the reason why Stephen did what he did. About serving,
making the ultimate sacrifice and oldest are all my siblings
know about doing and giving because that's the way we.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Were brought up.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
We were very war so it wasn't much to give,
you know, growing up, but they did when they when
they could. But my my parents were part of the
Third Order Franciscan third order, and you know, I would
see my father often being with going out and visiting
the sick or going to hospitals and reading and praying
with them and and doing all those things. And our family,
(03:20):
you know, centered around our spirituality and our Christian beliefs
and uh and it was shown to us in a
very early age that the best way to live your
life is by serving others. And you know that was
most certainly what Stephen made the ultimate service.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, and people in the third Order Franciscans, they follow,
they follow obviously the terrorism of Saint Francis of ASSISI
and it's a it's one that goes out and gives
to people and gives all you can. How did that
do you think draw Stephen to this public service and
being a firefighter.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, my father led by example instead of my mother.
My father, you know, went to Mass almost every day
of his life. And although he was he had to
go because he was an outrageous human being. You know,
he might have he might have reacted a little over
the top on some things, uh and then quickly had
to go and beg for forgiveness.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
He was quite a character. But he kept he kept
the four boys in line. I can tell you that.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And my my, my sisters, they didn't need anything. They
were all saintanly to begin with and still law. So
it was a It was great. My mother was never
raised a voice, didn't had to. She would just uh
and in a very holy way, just live a life
that was just, you know, so special. I can't even
(04:46):
explain to you how fortunate we were to have the
parents we had growing up. And we, like I said,
we were, we were very poor. We were the families
that sometimes people left stuff at Thanksgiving or at different times,
you know, on doorstep, you know, many times for us.
But we didn't we didn't know, you know, we didn't
know if we didn't have what we didn't have, because
(05:07):
what we did have, which was the love of family,
was more than than we have a I could possibly
one having a million kids in the in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Frank A couple of times now you said that Stephen
was an outrageous personality. What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, Stephen was You think of a young boy losing
both parents at such an early age, right, so he
was hyper to begin with as a young kid, just
drive my father nuts, you know, I mean hopping all
over place. But then again, my father was already older,
so he had probably less patience at that time.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But you know, Stephen went through a rough adolescence, he
really did, and uh you know, he had to come
to grips with what happened uh to him. And uh,
you know, I remember one day where Stephen. I was
out with Stephen and rock Fell Center, spending a day
with him, and he questioned his very being. He said, Frankie,
why did mommy and daddy have to die? I wish
(06:02):
I was never born? And I said Stephen, Oh, my God,
don't say that. You know this is right after my
parents had both passed away, and that my parents love
you so much.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
They brought you into this world.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And you know, the brothers and sisters we will always
be there for you.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
When we were we were always there for him.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, And I said, God put you on this earth
for the reason. Someday you will do something very special.
Little did I know what that special was by any means.
So Stephen gave us a run for the money as
an adolescence, but he landed on his feet at a
very young age, nineteen years old. Done the nonsense was
(06:41):
completely over. He came back to Staten Allen. He grew
up with us as he was a little kid before
he went out with my brother Russ, got reintroduced to
the little girl around the block where they used to
walk to school with when he was a little kid,
fell in love, got married, had five kids, had five children,
and you know, always wanted to be a firefighter, always
(07:04):
wanted you know, we had uncles and police police officers
under his cousins that were firefighters. Always wanted to be
a firefighter and became a firefighter at age twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
He died when he was thirty.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Four, so well, and he's eventually assigned to Brooklyn Squad one,
which is a fire brigade. I know he was in several,
but that was where he was in two thousand and one.
You had lunch with him, Frank on September tenth, two
thousand and one. He said, what to you?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
That day we were making plans because we're going to
play golf the next day, and we were talking about it.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
He also worked with me and another business.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You know, firefighters had to work two jobs, you know, right,
And we were making plans for the next season and
he said, you know, my parting words is see you tomorrow, brother,
I love you. And we hugged each other, and you know,
we thought that the next day playing golf.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
The four brothers were going to play.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Golf, you know, Russ, George, Stephen and myself. You know,
we were just so looking forward to it. And you know,
he was just finished his night tour and squad won
in Brooklyn. He was on his way home to play
the golf and he hurried on his radio scanner what happened?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
So you know, what do these guys do? You know, right, man?
They what do these great heroes do.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
He went back to his firehouse, got his gear, drove
to the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery tunnel was closed
for sixty reasons, strapped the sixty pounds of gear on
his back, and calmly ran in that tunnel. And I
know it was calmly because somebody saw him come to
a screeching halt in his truck.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
But Sam put his.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Gear on and jog into the tunnel, came out the
other side up West Street, and while saving people in
the towers, he gave up his life.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Why do you think he were in through the Brooklyn
tunnel that day? What did he tell his wife? He
tells his wife, Sally, He calls her, right.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
He calls him while he's going back to get his
gear back to the fire house, as he says, tell
my brothers, I'll try to catch up with him later. Yeah,
And obviously, you know when the second plane hit, you know,
we know there was.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
No catching up. Uh there was no golf that day,
that's damn sure. So yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Uh, you know, he he you know, he just did
what first responders do, what firefighters do, what police officers do,
what men and women in uniform to protect our country.
Do they go right towards the danger. They put their
life on risk, They put everything else on the side,
and they do what duty calls them to do.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
And you know, when we.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Found out that he ran through that tunnel and he
was going up those stairs and he gave up his life.
When I first when I when I when I first
realized he wasn't coming home, I couldn't believe it, I said,
I was so angry. I said, those those five kids
(09:53):
are going to be not gonna know Stephen like like
he's this perfect person, that perfect and you know every way,
but like a beautiful person. And these these poor kids
are not going to know their father the way they
should have known their father.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
They're going to hear through stories.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And we tell them every time I'm with them, they
you know, I tell them their all new stories because
he left us funny, but he was an outrageous human
being and just how we lived and most certainly how
he died.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Uh, you know, giving up his life.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Frank, you said something there that I that jumped out
at me. And having known you and some of your
brothers for a number of years now, you said he
told his wife Stephen did tell my brothers, I'll catch
up with them. And it seems to me you all
have s met these last few years trying to catch
up to him.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You know, when we heard what he did, we knew
we had to do something. And I remember talking to
my sister Laura, and I asked her, I said, okay,
if we start a foundation to make sure that you
know Steven's legacy, that like people know what he did,
and that the kids know that their dad's a hero,
and we'll make sure people don't forget. And she said okay.
(11:09):
She gave it a blessing, and then I told my
siblings what we're going to do. We were apprehensive, and
as you know, we never you know, we never ran
a foundation.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
You know, but you know, it was just so simple.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
What we were trying to do is to honor the
sacrifice and never forget.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And we wanted to do good.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
San Francis of ASSISSI back to our roots and brothers
and sisters, while you have time, let us do good.
So what we're here, we wanted to do good and
to remember what Stephen did, but.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Not just Stephen.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And I think one of the greatest things about the tunnel,
the Talis foundation is that we realized early on Stephen
symbolic of so many people that did so many beautiful,
courageous things that day, so many heroes that day, that
we made sure that the very first run that we
had through the tunnel that retraces Stephen's final heroic foot steps,
(12:01):
we had the banners there for American flags, there for
every first.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Responder who died that day. It wasn't just about Steven.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And I think now that there's thousands of families come.
You know, we have forty thousand people come every year
that do the run. They come out the tunnel and
they see the story they love one, you know, hold
the picture they loved one, and the seven thousand men
and women who gave their lives, and you know, in
the global War on Terror, we have the names and
(12:31):
pictures every single one of them. It's a mile long,
shouldered by shoulder, hell by these other great heroes, and
so we remember everything. But the foundation from the beginning is,
you know, we wanted to honor his sacrifice, and we
want to make sure we never forget the sacrifice of
him and so many that day, and so many.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
So I love that this started as a five k
race as you said, retracing your brother's steps through the
Brooklyn Tunnel out to the where the tower were, the
side of the towers. But it's transformed into something so
much bigger than that. Now, Frank, where did this When
did it take a turn and leave a five k
(13:14):
commemorative race and turn into this foundation that now cares
for all of these first responders and are wounded and
fallen heroes.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Well, you know, there's been many miracles that have happened
to us at the foundation and to my siblings and myself,
and a lot of times God puts us on a path.
And by the way, you know, when we told people
that we were going to have a run through the tunnel,
you'll laugh, said, you're not going to get that done.
They're not going to close pots of Brooklyn. They're not
(13:48):
going to close a tunnel. They're not going to close
downtown in Manhattan. You know, for you and as God
is my judge, the first meeting I had with this guy,
Bob Adamaco from the Department of the Transportation in ten minutes,
not only when I told him my brother Stephen's story.
You know, as a kid be an orphaned and growing
up get married, and all this stuff. He was crying.
(14:09):
He came around, he said, we're going to Yes, we're
going to get this done. He calls the guy up,
Gideon Davis Davis and says, can we close the tunnel
in late September?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
And the guy says yes.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
And then he calls another person and says, will you
help them organize this run? And as somebody, I went
to high school with them. My brother Us, the older
brother of us, taught every time. So there's been miracles.
But listen, the first ever quadruple ampute to ever survive
any war was from Staten Island, where we all were born,
all the sellers.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
And Sergeant Brendan Morocco.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
When I heard about it, I went down to visit
him with a group of people from the Foundation. And
while I was talking to him, his father asked me, actually,
can you talk to Brendan and speak to him and
give him some words of a counchment. And while I
was talking to him, first of all, I said, what
am I going to say to him? You know? But
I but while I was talking to me, I said, Brendan,
(15:02):
can we can the tunnel to twis foundation? Can we
build you a home? A mortgage free home and and
Brendan said, Frank, I don't know where I'm going to live.
I said, I don't care. I don't care where you
want to live. We'll build it wherever you want.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And he goes.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I might want to stay in the DC area because
of all the operations you know, by Walter Reid. And
I said, wherever you want, he goes wherever I want.
And of course he didn't hold up a finger because
he didn't have arms, but.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
He went wherever I want. Right, you member four limbs right?
He lost. I said, wherever you want, he goes.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Frank, wherever I want, I said, Brendan, wherever you want,
he goes. Are you sure? I said, yes, I'm sure.
Wherever you want he goes, even Hawaii. I said, oh,
I see what you know? He was kidding around, And
I love that. Already here he is, you know, several
months after you know, twenty maybe operations that he had
already he and he had this a sense of human
(15:58):
he was outrageous human being himself. That being said, that's
what changed us. That is what changes That meeting changed
the whole foundation. Before that, we were doing good things.
They'll get me wrong, but we didn't have to raise
a lot of money. We're doing some small scholarships for
kids that lost the parent, most certainly first responders, certainly
in the schools where my brother went, where our family went.
(16:21):
We helped those those children out. But now I got
to raise three quarters of a million dollars to build
us a home, you know, for Brenda Morocco. And we
did it like this.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
We did it now.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I'm not going to say it was easy, but we
did it pretty quickly. Yeah, and we had so many
people that came together.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Well, and now you've got the Smart Home program, you
got the Fallen first Responder and gold Star Family Home
programs which offers these mortgage free homes to all of
those people. I mean, it is an incredible legacy that
Steven's loss and sacrifice has spawned. I mean, even he
as outrageous as he is, he couldn't have envisioned this
for me.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
It wouldn't have happened if he didn't make that run,
if he didn't run through that tunnel.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
This stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
There was no other foundation like this in America. There
still isn't other than us, and it's obviously it's very needed.
Think of all the first responders. They give their life
every year, right every year. It's incredible. And December twentieth,
twenty fourteen, the detectives Lou and Ramos are assassinated just
because the police officer sitting in their car in Brooklyn.
(17:28):
Some crazy person came up from Baltimore though to be
okay to assassinate police officers, and they did. And I
remember meeting with those families on Christmas Eve twenty fourteen,
and I told them the Tunnel to Tallis Foundation are
going to pay off their mortgages. So now we're doing
the smart homes where we said, now we're going to
build a smart home for everybody who's catastrophically injured. Now
(17:51):
we start paying off those two mortgages. Because it was
right here in New York. And then I heard about
five police officers that were killed in Dallas and then
one in all hot in Iowa.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And I mean, and all of.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
A sudden, you know, I was talking to my family.
I said, we got to do this for every If
we're helping these police offices, we got to do for everyone.
And then we took a solemn vow that we're going
to help every first responder in America that dies in
a line of duty that leaves a young family behind,
We're going to give them a mortgage free home. I
(18:23):
spoke with one today. I spoke to a widow today
that just lost her her husband when serving a warrant
and you get jumped and killed. You know, he was
abushed himself. So look, it's so important the work that
we do.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
But we only do it.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Because like your your listeners, your viewers, you know, we
ask everybody go to t twot dot org donate eleven
dollars a month.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I've said that. I've said it one years, thousands of.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Times, you know, and most certainly on Fox and On
and other and broadcasts and stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
And it works.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
We bring you say, the fire Department says, many hands
makes light work, and we bring many people together to
make this happen. Yes, at the big companies, you know,
the big companies, we have GM, we have Home Depot,
American Express, T Mobile, and many many more that you
know gives us millions and millions of dollars. But we
(19:24):
count on the eleven dollars a month to make this out.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
It's an amazing I got to say, I didn't appreciate
the diversity of the work until I dove in this
past week, Frank. I mean, and I knew you. Look,
I've been to your events. I think it's incredible. And
the golfing, you know, I was just hitt a golf
outing with you in New Jersey. And now realizing that
Stephen was meant to play golf with you all that day,
(19:47):
it kind of drove home why the golf thing was
so important. I couldn't figure out what the connection was.
I mean, people liked the golf. I don't what others do,
and it made it all. It made it mean more.
I think when I realized the connection.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
We try and do everything with the purpose. Everything we
do with the Foundation has some underlining purpose to it
because it has to be real what we do and
has to be real. I mean, the biggest purpose is
who we're helping. But yeah, we were going to play
golf that day, that beautiful day. And you know, and
I said to my brother the day before, see tomorrowro.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
I love you.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You know what I mean, and we give our man hug.
You know that never happened, but because of it, look
at all the good that has come out of my
brother's sacrifice. Yes, I'd rather him be around I wish
I was helping another foundation for the same type of right,
was no question about it. I wish his five kids
had their dad. One of them's getting married on Memorial
(20:45):
Weekend on that on that Saturday night is getting married.
Another one just got engaged. All these kids, they were babies.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
They were three and a half, five years old, you
know when it happened. The oldest was ten.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
They had had a two and a half year old
and a nine month old and a nine month and
they're all doing unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
He'd be very proud of incredible. Well, I mean I
didn't realize you had a foundling facility in state nag.
I mean, this was mind blowing. And now you're you're
helping homeless veterans. This program is incredible. Where did that
come from? I mean, you've housed thousands of veterans across
the country now, Frank.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, So it came from a simple point that you know,
when something's looking at you straight in the face and
you know there's a problem with our veterans, they go
serve us right, and you're seeing them. When I was
doing my walk, remember the small walk I did. Oh yeah,
I walked from from the Pentagon to Shanksville, Pennsylvania to
Brown Zero. Right, I was walking through Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I
(21:51):
went under and overpass, and under that overpass, there were
so many homelessness people sitting under there in such a
in such a dirty, unbelievable conditions. And I spoke to
some of them, and they were veterans, and they were veterans,
And you know, that thought has never gotten out of
(22:13):
my mind. I travel all over the United States, I
see it. I see it all over, I see it
all over. Finally we spoke about it as a foundation.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I'm going to tell.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
You we almost almost didn't do it because the undertaking
is so tremendous, so large, so it seemed almost insurmountable.
And then we said, we just can't put a roof
over the head. You've got to get them all the
services they need.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, they need a community too.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
They need to be and they camp in shelters. Yeah,
they can't be in shelters. They have to have their own, like,
their own place to live, their own apartment, their own
you know, we're building these we're buying these hotels. It's
just what nineteen of them all over the United States. Right,
And we're renovating them into apartments permanent and temporary. But
you know, if the older guys is permanent, for the
(23:05):
younger ones, I wanted to be temporary. I want them
back in out there and getting their own homes and
whatever it may be. But we almost didn't do it
because it was so the undertaking was so huge, so big.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You mean in terms of the numbers, the numbers.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
The numbers turns, the amount of money. Yeah, in terms
of making sure they get the mental health.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Side right, So how are we going to do that?
How are we going to put this all together? We
did it.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
We put together a plan and finally said, I won't
say the words it it. We're doing it because it's
the right thing to do. Steven would want us to
do it. Mom and Dad would want us to do
it because they were for Assiscans. They want to take
care of the poor and the needy.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Right, they would want us to do it. We have
to do it. We have no choice. We're doing it,
and we're doing it.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Ten thousand homeless feds off the street just the last
two years, incredible thousand in ten crowns.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
We have an.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Effering I know you're involved in something that I covered
and at a time when nobody was covering it. On Fox,
we showed people those homeless veterans camped out on the
streets surrounding the la VA campus in Brentwood, this is
land that was deeded to the government to care for veterans.
Tell me what happened recently and how it involves tunnel
(24:24):
to towers. You all the part of the solution there.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, we're definitely part of the solution.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
And President Trump just signed an executive order saying that
he's going to open up to how six thousand homeless
veterans on that property. And he wants to his words,
well he was running for president. I loved it when
I had him say it. He wants to eradicate homelessness. Well,
I've been saying it for a couple of years, and
he's been running for president for the last couple of years.
(24:49):
He's saying the same thing.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
That property is so important because we know there's at
least three thousand homeless vents right on that property.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
We're already we already.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Have some of those Hova's veterans in our own property there,
all right. We poured in a.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Lot of money.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
I think it was seventy two million dollars we poured
into that project ourselves. It's painstakingly slow. It's not the
way I like to operate, to be honest with you,
Working a big government property, you need some many okays
here and there. I'm not in charge of that particular
projected I wish in some ways I wish I was,
but some cays I'd rather just stay totally independent in
(25:26):
what we're doing. But I know now with the President
saying that he's going to do this in Sciences Executive Order,
my goodness, we already met with the Secretary of HUD
and the Secretary of the VA about working with them
to make sure because the VA, you know, Doug Collins,
(25:47):
this guy gets it. I mean, he's just he's just
all in. And Turner, Scott Turner is incredible. We can't
get it done without the vouchers from the HUD vouchers.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
I can tell you that because.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
We we work with over a thousand other non for
profits around the country. When they see a homeless veteran,
they could call us up and we could get that
homeless veteran off the street immediately.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
But we need to hudge hudge vouchers to do that.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
We could get them off the street, but we need
the vouchers afterwards to keep them off the street.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Right to keep maintaining it. There's a lot of services
they need.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
And we could get them all that services because we
have case manages for every one of these people.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
We don't.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Once again, we just don't put him somewhere and say goodbye.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
It doesn't work that.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Way, Frank, How does your faith, your personal faith animate
this effort. I mean, I know you still go to
blessed sacrament on Staten Island, your boyhood parish. How this,
I know has to be an animating power as you
grow and continue to sustain. Tunnel to towers.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Well, I know what we're doing is the right thing. Therefore,
I know it's blessed. I know that the man upstairs
is opening doors for us that.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
We never knew that. It couldn't open my mind.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
You know, even go back to the story of Bob
adamcall I told you just getting the permits to go
through the tunnel. You know, he keeps on sending us people.
There's no doubt about it. He just keeps on sending
us people, companies, people, eleven dollars a month. People, all
these things. It's nothing that yes, we're bringing people together.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Am I working hard? Sure, I'm working hard, but everyone
you know, most people work hard, you know they have
to do.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
But I have the great fortune of working with these
great families on a constant basis. And once you meet
these families once again, you have no choice to but
continue doing what we're doing. So faith has everything to
do with it. I talked to my kids about faith
all the time. It's what carries you through every forget
(27:44):
about the good times. The good times you feel upbeat anyway, right,
but you thank God for it. There's no person about it.
But you know it's through difficult times that you need
your faith the most. And we needed it around nine
to eleven and he put us on this path and
it's the path we're never going to get off.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Do you worry that young people have forgotten about nine
to eleven?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Frank, Well, well, of course, but we do have at
nine to eleven Institute.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah, I know you do.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
We have K through twelve. We have educational You could
go go T two T dot org go to our
nine to eleven Institute. You can download right for yourself
as a parent. You could download it as a school,
you could download it as a community. You can download
it and teach it as a It's a curriculum a
lot of time and effort into because we want to
(28:26):
make sure that we out of the sacrifice and never
forget and we're going to stick with that.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
That was our first thing that we were doing and
we're never going to leave that.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, Frank, when I look at the story of the Sillers,
and when I look at Stephen's story and what you've done,
it really is about sacrificial concern, starting with Stephen and
now spreading to the entire family, and now this movement
of sacrificial concern. What would you say to Americans as
(28:54):
Memorial Day comes around again? What is their duty? What
is their role?
Speaker 2 (28:58):
I think that duty is very simple that if we're
asking people to put on a uniform and protect us,
that we must make a promise and a vow to them.
And this is very simple that if you go serve
our community or our country and you give you a
life for either one, you give your kids a kiss gobye,
(29:21):
and you don't come home. We are Americans. We are
going to take care of your family. We're going to
make sure that they have a mortgage free home, or
if they come back catastrophically ejured, that they have a
mortgage free smart home, well GoF of it. They come
back and they're mentally disturbed and they can't get back
into the swing of life, that we're going to take that.
(29:44):
We're gonna hug them, we're going to love them, we're
going to put them into place, and we're going to
get them to help to get them back so they
could be part of the family again. That is our promise,
and we ask everybody on this Memorial Day to take
that promise with us, because that's how we get it done.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Bring it up, you know. I also think, Frank, it's
so important. We used to do this with our children,
particularly when they were young. Go to these memorials for veterans,
whether it's a Vietnam memorial or World War II memorial,
every local community has them. Take the time to take
your children there and honor the sacrifice of those who
gave their lives. It inculcates I think a feeling a
(30:23):
reverence for the patriotism and the sacrifice of these men
and women, and teaches the next generation this is who
you whose shoulders you stand on and who sacrifice you
stand on?
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I agree. I sit with your children and watch a movie.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Well, in these movies about the great sacrifice, and I
did so depicted in a certain way.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Are they a little upsetting? Yes?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So what you know, Sometimes some people are saying to me, oh,
you should take off your website the two towers coming down.
I said, bull crap, excuse me. This is what happened, right,
this is what happened. You have to show what happened.
You got to be, you know, show what happened, then
show what you can do afterwards to try to make
things better. You can't stay in a bad place. It's
(31:06):
just we have a choice, and you can't stay there.
And the choice is go out and help somebody, get
out of yourself, go help somebody else. And you can't
bring back your loved one, but you could do something
to honor them in such a beautiful way.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
No. Well, I love that you've done that in so
many beautiful ways, incredible ways, and it continues to grow
and expand. I mean, I can't tell you the people
I come across who've either been helped by you or
know someone who's been helped by you, which is an
incredible legacy after an for an organization that's only been
around since two thousand and one. Frank, for every guest
on the show, I do in a royal grande questionnaire.
(31:39):
These are fast questions. There'll be no penalty at the end.
I'm going to ask you these very quickly.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Makes so fast anymore so? But go ahead.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Who is the person you most admire.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
My mother or father, two of them.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Who's the person you most despise?
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Osama bid Latin?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
What What is the best feature that you have and
the worst?
Speaker 2 (32:05):
My best feature is my faith and the worst. I
get very angry when I see bad things happen.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
I share that with you. What do you fear, Frank?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I feel like I feel better today than I have did.
But I fear that America is moving away from what
has made us great, which is sacrificing and our faith
and that we are, you know, Judeo Christian country and
born from that, and that we have to we have
to have that understanding to stay in the greatness that
(32:37):
we that we have. So that is my biggest concern.
But I do feel better now. I'll be honest with you.
I do feel that people are coming back to faith.
I see it all the time, the people I deal
with all the time, I'm around it all the time,
the people that you know. We just did a groundbreak
in Bayville, New Jersey, where two thousand people came out
(33:00):
to see us break round on a piece of property
that we're going to be doing for homeless man.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Two thousand people.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Yes, So I see that, And if you there, you
could feel the amount of energy and love and concern
and commitment people have. So, you know, I do feel
good about America. I feel so good about America. I
feel like we're heading in a really good direction. But
we got to be careful because we can't forget you know,
(33:28):
how we got here, and we got to have our
faith faith as well.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
I love the Tunnel for Towers is Tunnel to Towers
is really a vehicle for so many people to express
not only their belief and the reverence, to reverence the
sacrifice of all these people. It's a beautiful way to
do that. What's the greatest virtue, Frank Love, what is
(33:54):
your greatest regret?
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Regrets?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I've had a few, but too few to mention, you know.
I look, we all make mistakes growing up, you know,
on things. But I'm married for.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Forty seven years.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I have three beautiful children, seven grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
You know I'm sorry my brother's gone. It kills me.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I think about them every single day, but I can't.
I can't change that. I don't have many We all
have small regrets. Yeah, there's no question about it. But
I'd have nerve to complain.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
I love that. What do you know that other people
don't know?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Frank Siller, Well, I don't know about that because I'm
not that smart. You know, I built the first smart home.
I want to say I built a smart home, not
because I'm smart, because I got somebody smart to do it.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I think I think I realized I surround myself with
just good people and talented.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
People, and that's that's how we get it. I get
it done.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
I consider myself like Tom Sworry a little bit. I
got a lot of people to paint defense for me
and back and say, look at Frank Silid. Now it's
all these people painting a fence that are doing it.
I'm just a spokesperson for them.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
That's so great. The best piece of advice you ever
received is what Frank.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
The best piece of advice today.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I tell you there's something I live by, and when
I'm angry, I do wait a day or two before
I confront something. You know, my father, who was not
a very patient person, I always take it, take a
step back, you know, before you open your mouth, because
when you open your mouth, you know, you know, if
you've two loaded, you know, you could screw terrible things.
(35:40):
I mean, I'm not gonna say I live that way
every day, but I try to.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
I try to.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
And it always seems like if you wait twenty four
hours on something, it's not as bad as it was
twenty four hours beforehand.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
In the moment. Yeah, that's great advice, actually, and particularly
for hotheads like me.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
It's pa faint on me.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
What's your favorite book, frank and the one you read
that you were really enjoyed?
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Well?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Well, so I continuously, uh read a book about Saint
Francis of ASSISSI. I keep on reading more and more
books about San Francis ASSISI being that my parents, uh
you know or you know, live live that life. I
read daily prayers every single day. I I I love
(36:25):
reading the Bible. I'm not Bible verse that you couldn't.
I can't repeat the Bible and stuff. But I do
like reading uh scripture, Uh for sure. I put in
a lot of the things when I when I give
a talk called the speech a talk, I usually put scripture.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
In it because I related to how I'm supposed to
do things.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
So I'm a big reader. But I read more inspirational
books and and and uh and stories all the time.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
But it all relates around faith.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
What happens when this is over?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Frank, Well, first of all, this is never going to
be over the foundation. That's a promise that we're building
it the last forever. At young Stephen Jr.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Working here.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Wow, I got other family members involved because this is
a family foundation. Yet we have you know, hundreds and
hundreds of employees too, because we do build houses all over.
We do with the homeless veterans. You know, we have
case managers that have to work with these great heroes.
So this foundation will never be will never be over.
(37:39):
I'll expire like we all do. Right, I kept out
it all the time. I tell my kids that I
could be gone tomorrow. You know, you just got to
be ready, you know, because we do not know the.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Day, no the hour right as it says.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
So I'm not worried about the foundation because the work
we're doing is always going to be necessary, because there's
always going to be heroes dying us.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Wow. Well, Frank Siller, what a legacy that you're passing
on not only to your family but to all of
us and making us all a part of I thank
you for being here and for your outstanding work. And
God rests the soul of your dear brother Stephen and
all those who offered the ultimate sacrifice for us, particularly
as Memorial Day draw us closer.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Thank you, Miss America, Thank you, Remy.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Here's the whole. There's something that Frank Siller said there.
I picked up on it when I first heard it.
I even mentioned it to him where his brother Stephen said,
I will catch up with you later. And so many
of these heroes we end up trying to catch up too.
We should be catching up to them, trying to follow
(38:44):
at least their example of selfless sacrifice where they were
more concerned about others than they were even about themselves.
That's an incredible lesson and the underpinning of faith that
animates the entire Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which is something
I didn't know before I started doing research. On this interview,
and I've known Frank Sila for a long time. You
(39:05):
can support Tunnel to Towers by visiting them at t
the number two t ttwot dot org. I hope you'll
come back to a Royal Grande soon. Why live a dry,
constricted life when if you fill it with good things,
it can flow into a broad driving a Royo Grande.
Make sure you subscribe and like this episode. Thanks for
(39:27):
diving in. We'll see you next time. Royo Grande is
produced in partnership with iHeart Podcasts and is available on
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
He is founder of Tunnel to Towers, which has helped
tens of thousands of veterans and first responders across the country.
His personal story of loss, family and purpose is one
you have to hear. Frank Siller is my guest on
this Arroyo Grande. Come on, I'm Raymond Arroyo. Welcome to
(00:30):
Arroyo Grande. Go subscribe to the show. Now turn the
notifications on. Do that. I don't want you to miss
anything that's coming. We're about to celebrate Memorial Day here
in the United States, and when you think of honoring
the sacrifice of our fighting men and women and first responders,
Tunnel to Towers instantly comes to mind. Frank Killer founded
the organization back in two thousand and one, and though
(00:52):
you may have seen the commercials, the personal loss that
drove him, the love and the purpose he's found is
something you have to hear. I'm honored to be joined
by Frank Siller. Frank, thanks for being here. You are
one of seven kids. Tell me how close you were
to your younger brother, Stephen when your parents died. He
was a child, he was like ten years old.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yes, yeah, when Stephen was born. My father was forty nine,
my mother was forty four, so he was a little miracle.
And we were much older older siblings were much older.
My brother Russ was twenty four years older than him,
and I was closest in.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Age and I was in the eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I was already fourteen years old, so you could see
the big difference in age. So yeah, So my father
died when he was eight and a half and a
year and a half later our mom died, so at
ten years old, he was orphaned. And you know, we
all played a major role in his upbringing, you know,
not only being brothers or sisters, but being parent figures
(01:54):
in his life and primarily live with my oldest brother
Russ in rock Fall Center with his wife Jacqueline, and
it was it was a crushing time in our lives
for sure, but you know, we focused everything on Stephen,
and it's he grew up to be an outrageous human
being to say the last.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, well, I love that you gathered around Stephen when
he was younger and orphaned, you know, in your parents' death,
and and how the whole family surrounded him even in
his passing, which we'll get to an a moment. Tell
me about your parents though, I was fascinated by your parents,
George and May. They're they're a big part not only
of Stephen's service, but yours. Tell me about how their
(02:39):
faith and philosophy colored Stephen's career.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, thank you for mentioning in that, because they are
the reason why Stephen did what he did. About serving,
making the ultimate sacrifice and oldest are all my siblings
know about doing and giving because that's the way we.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Were brought up.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
We were very war so it wasn't much to give,
you know, growing up, but they did when they when
they could. But my my parents were part of the
Third Order Franciscan third order, and you know, I would
see my father often being with going out and visiting
the sick or going to hospitals and reading and praying
with them and and doing all those things. And our family,
(03:20):
you know, centered around our spirituality and our Christian beliefs
and uh and it was shown to us in a
very early age that the best way to live your
life is by serving others. And you know that was
most certainly what Stephen made the ultimate service.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, and people in the third Order Franciscans, they follow,
they follow obviously the terrorism of Saint Francis of ASSISI
and it's a it's one that goes out and gives
to people and gives all you can. How did that
do you think draw Stephen to this public service and
being a firefighter.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, my father led by example instead of my mother.
My father, you know, went to Mass almost every day
of his life. And although he was he had to
go because he was an outrageous human being. You know,
he might have he might have reacted a little over
the top on some things, uh and then quickly had
to go and beg for forgiveness.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
He was quite a character. But he kept he kept
the four boys in line. I can tell you that.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And my my, my sisters, they didn't need anything. They
were all saintanly to begin with and still law. So
it was a It was great. My mother was never
raised a voice, didn't had to. She would just uh
and in a very holy way, just live a life
that was just, you know, so special. I can't even
(04:46):
explain to you how fortunate we were to have the
parents we had growing up. And we, like I said,
we were, we were very poor. We were the families
that sometimes people left stuff at Thanksgiving or at different times,
you know, on doorstep, you know, many times for us.
But we didn't we didn't know, you know, we didn't
know if we didn't have what we didn't have, because
(05:07):
what we did have, which was the love of family,
was more than than we have a I could possibly
one having a million kids in the in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Frank A couple of times now you said that Stephen
was an outrageous personality. What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, Stephen was You think of a young boy losing
both parents at such an early age, right, so he
was hyper to begin with as a young kid, just
drive my father nuts, you know, I mean hopping all
over place. But then again, my father was already older,
so he had probably less patience at that time.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But you know, Stephen went through a rough adolescence, he
really did, and uh you know, he had to come
to grips with what happened uh to him. And uh,
you know, I remember one day where Stephen. I was
out with Stephen and rock Fell Center, spending a day
with him, and he questioned his very being. He said, Frankie,
why did mommy and daddy have to die? I wish
(06:02):
I was never born? And I said Stephen, Oh, my God,
don't say that. You know this is right after my
parents had both passed away, and that my parents love
you so much.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
They brought you into this world.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And you know, the brothers and sisters we will always
be there for you.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
When we were we were always there for him.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, And I said, God put you on this earth
for the reason. Someday you will do something very special.
Little did I know what that special was by any means.
So Stephen gave us a run for the money as
an adolescence, but he landed on his feet at a
very young age, nineteen years old. Done the nonsense was
(06:41):
completely over. He came back to Staten Allen. He grew
up with us as he was a little kid before
he went out with my brother Russ, got reintroduced to
the little girl around the block where they used to
walk to school with when he was a little kid,
fell in love, got married, had five kids, had five children,
and you know, always wanted to be a firefighter, always
(07:04):
wanted you know, we had uncles and police police officers
under his cousins that were firefighters. Always wanted to be
a firefighter and became a firefighter at age twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
He died when he was thirty.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Four, so well, and he's eventually assigned to Brooklyn Squad one,
which is a fire brigade. I know he was in several,
but that was where he was in two thousand and one.
You had lunch with him, Frank on September tenth, two
thousand and one. He said, what to you?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
That day we were making plans because we're going to
play golf the next day, and we were talking about it.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
He also worked with me and another business.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You know, firefighters had to work two jobs, you know, right,
And we were making plans for the next season and
he said, you know, my parting words is see you tomorrow, brother,
I love you. And we hugged each other, and you know,
we thought that the next day playing golf.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
The four brothers were going to play.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Golf, you know, Russ, George, Stephen and myself. You know,
we were just so looking forward to it. And you know,
he was just finished his night tour and squad won
in Brooklyn. He was on his way home to play
the golf and he hurried on his radio scanner what happened?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
So you know, what do these guys do? You know, right, man?
They what do these great heroes do.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
He went back to his firehouse, got his gear, drove
to the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery tunnel was closed
for sixty reasons, strapped the sixty pounds of gear on
his back, and calmly ran in that tunnel. And I
know it was calmly because somebody saw him come to
a screeching halt in his truck.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
But Sam put his.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Gear on and jog into the tunnel, came out the
other side up West Street, and while saving people in
the towers, he gave up his life.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Why do you think he were in through the Brooklyn
tunnel that day? What did he tell his wife? He
tells his wife, Sally, He calls her, right.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
He calls him while he's going back to get his
gear back to the fire house, as he says, tell
my brothers, I'll try to catch up with him later. Yeah,
And obviously, you know when the second plane hit, you know,
we know there was.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
No catching up. Uh there was no golf that day,
that's damn sure. So yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Uh, you know, he he you know, he just did
what first responders do, what firefighters do, what police officers do,
what men and women in uniform to protect our country.
Do they go right towards the danger. They put their
life on risk, They put everything else on the side,
and they do what duty calls them to do.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
And you know, when we.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Found out that he ran through that tunnel and he
was going up those stairs and he gave up his life.
When I first when I when I when I first
realized he wasn't coming home, I couldn't believe it, I said,
I was so angry. I said, those those five kids
(09:53):
are going to be not gonna know Stephen like like
he's this perfect person, that perfect and you know every way,
but like a beautiful person. And these these poor kids
are not going to know their father the way they
should have known their father.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
They're going to hear through stories.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And we tell them every time I'm with them, they
you know, I tell them their all new stories because
he left us funny, but he was an outrageous human
being and just how we lived and most certainly how
he died.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Uh, you know, giving up his life.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Frank, you said something there that I that jumped out
at me. And having known you and some of your
brothers for a number of years now, you said he
told his wife Stephen did tell my brothers, I'll catch
up with them. And it seems to me you all
have s met these last few years trying to catch
up to him.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You know, when we heard what he did, we knew
we had to do something. And I remember talking to
my sister Laura, and I asked her, I said, okay,
if we start a foundation to make sure that you
know Steven's legacy, that like people know what he did,
and that the kids know that their dad's a hero,
and we'll make sure people don't forget. And she said okay.
(11:09):
She gave it a blessing, and then I told my
siblings what we're going to do. We were apprehensive, and
as you know, we never you know, we never ran
a foundation.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
You know, but you know, it was just so simple.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
What we were trying to do is to honor the
sacrifice and never forget.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And we wanted to do good.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
San Francis of ASSISSI back to our roots and brothers
and sisters, while you have time, let us do good.
So what we're here, we wanted to do good and
to remember what Stephen did, but.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Not just Stephen.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And I think one of the greatest things about the tunnel,
the Talis foundation is that we realized early on Stephen
symbolic of so many people that did so many beautiful,
courageous things that day, so many heroes that day, that
we made sure that the very first run that we
had through the tunnel that retraces Stephen's final heroic foot steps,
(12:01):
we had the banners there for American flags, there for
every first.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Responder who died that day. It wasn't just about Steven.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And I think now that there's thousands of families come.
You know, we have forty thousand people come every year
that do the run. They come out the tunnel and
they see the story they love one, you know, hold
the picture they loved one, and the seven thousand men
and women who gave their lives, and you know, in
the global War on Terror, we have the names and
(12:31):
pictures every single one of them. It's a mile long,
shouldered by shoulder, hell by these other great heroes, and
so we remember everything. But the foundation from the beginning is,
you know, we wanted to honor his sacrifice, and we
want to make sure we never forget the sacrifice of
him and so many that day, and so many.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
So I love that this started as a five k
race as you said, retracing your brother's steps through the
Brooklyn Tunnel out to the where the tower were, the
side of the towers. But it's transformed into something so
much bigger than that. Now, Frank, where did this When
did it take a turn and leave a five k
(13:14):
commemorative race and turn into this foundation that now cares
for all of these first responders and are wounded and
fallen heroes.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Well, you know, there's been many miracles that have happened
to us at the foundation and to my siblings and myself,
and a lot of times God puts us on a path.
And by the way, you know, when we told people
that we were going to have a run through the tunnel,
you'll laugh, said, you're not going to get that done.
They're not going to close pots of Brooklyn. They're not
(13:48):
going to close a tunnel. They're not going to close
downtown in Manhattan. You know, for you and as God
is my judge, the first meeting I had with this guy,
Bob Adamaco from the Department of the Transportation in ten minutes,
not only when I told him my brother Stephen's story.
You know, as a kid be an orphaned and growing
up get married, and all this stuff. He was crying.
(14:09):
He came around, he said, we're going to Yes, we're
going to get this done. He calls the guy up,
Gideon Davis Davis and says, can we close the tunnel
in late September?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
And the guy says yes.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
And then he calls another person and says, will you
help them organize this run? And as somebody, I went
to high school with them. My brother Us, the older
brother of us, taught every time. So there's been miracles.
But listen, the first ever quadruple ampute to ever survive
any war was from Staten Island, where we all were born,
all the sellers.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
And Sergeant Brendan Morocco.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
When I heard about it, I went down to visit
him with a group of people from the Foundation. And
while I was talking to him, his father asked me, actually,
can you talk to Brendan and speak to him and
give him some words of a counchment. And while I
was talking to him, first of all, I said, what
am I going to say to him? You know? But
I but while I was talking to me, I said, Brendan,
(15:02):
can we can the tunnel to twis foundation? Can we
build you a home? A mortgage free home and and
Brendan said, Frank, I don't know where I'm going to live.
I said, I don't care. I don't care where you
want to live. We'll build it wherever you want.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And he goes.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I might want to stay in the DC area because
of all the operations you know, by Walter Reid. And
I said, wherever you want, he goes wherever I want.
And of course he didn't hold up a finger because
he didn't have arms, but.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
He went wherever I want. Right, you member four limbs right?
He lost. I said, wherever you want, he goes.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Frank, wherever I want, I said, Brendan, wherever you want,
he goes. Are you sure? I said, yes, I'm sure.
Wherever you want he goes, even Hawaii. I said, oh,
I see what you know? He was kidding around, And
I love that. Already here he is, you know, several
months after you know, twenty maybe operations that he had
already he and he had this a sense of human
(15:58):
he was outrageous human being himself. That being said, that's
what changed us. That is what changes That meeting changed
the whole foundation. Before that, we were doing good things.
They'll get me wrong, but we didn't have to raise
a lot of money. We're doing some small scholarships for
kids that lost the parent, most certainly first responders, certainly
in the schools where my brother went, where our family went.
(16:21):
We helped those those children out. But now I got
to raise three quarters of a million dollars to build
us a home, you know, for Brenda Morocco. And we
did it like this.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
We did it now.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I'm not going to say it was easy, but we
did it pretty quickly. Yeah, and we had so many
people that came together.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Well, and now you've got the Smart Home program, you
got the Fallen first Responder and gold Star Family Home
programs which offers these mortgage free homes to all of
those people. I mean, it is an incredible legacy that
Steven's loss and sacrifice has spawned. I mean, even he
as outrageous as he is, he couldn't have envisioned this
for me.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
It wouldn't have happened if he didn't make that run,
if he didn't run through that tunnel.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
This stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
There was no other foundation like this in America. There
still isn't other than us, and it's obviously it's very needed.
Think of all the first responders. They give their life
every year, right every year. It's incredible. And December twentieth,
twenty fourteen, the detectives Lou and Ramos are assassinated just
because the police officer sitting in their car in Brooklyn.
(17:28):
Some crazy person came up from Baltimore though to be
okay to assassinate police officers, and they did. And I
remember meeting with those families on Christmas Eve twenty fourteen,
and I told them the Tunnel to Tallis Foundation are
going to pay off their mortgages. So now we're doing
the smart homes where we said, now we're going to
build a smart home for everybody who's catastrophically injured. Now
(17:51):
we start paying off those two mortgages. Because it was
right here in New York. And then I heard about
five police officers that were killed in Dallas and then
one in all hot in Iowa.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And I mean, and all of.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
A sudden, you know, I was talking to my family.
I said, we got to do this for every If
we're helping these police offices, we got to do for everyone.
And then we took a solemn vow that we're going
to help every first responder in America that dies in
a line of duty that leaves a young family behind,
We're going to give them a mortgage free home. I
(18:23):
spoke with one today. I spoke to a widow today
that just lost her her husband when serving a warrant
and you get jumped and killed. You know, he was
abushed himself. So look, it's so important the work that
we do.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
But we only do it.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Because like your your listeners, your viewers, you know, we
ask everybody go to t twot dot org donate eleven
dollars a month.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I've said that. I've said it one years, thousands of.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Times, you know, and most certainly on Fox and On
and other and broadcasts and stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
And it works.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
We bring you say, the fire Department says, many hands
makes light work, and we bring many people together to
make this happen. Yes, at the big companies, you know,
the big companies, we have GM, we have Home Depot,
American Express, T Mobile, and many many more that you
know gives us millions and millions of dollars. But we
(19:24):
count on the eleven dollars a month to make this out.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
It's an amazing I got to say, I didn't appreciate
the diversity of the work until I dove in this
past week, Frank. I mean, and I knew you. Look,
I've been to your events. I think it's incredible. And
the golfing, you know, I was just hitt a golf
outing with you in New Jersey. And now realizing that
Stephen was meant to play golf with you all that day,
(19:47):
it kind of drove home why the golf thing was
so important. I couldn't figure out what the connection was.
I mean, people liked the golf. I don't what others do,
and it made it all. It made it mean more.
I think when I realized the connection.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
We try and do everything with the purpose. Everything we
do with the Foundation has some underlining purpose to it
because it has to be real what we do and
has to be real. I mean, the biggest purpose is
who we're helping. But yeah, we were going to play
golf that day, that beautiful day. And you know, and
I said to my brother the day before, see tomorrowro.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
I love you.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
You know what I mean, and we give our man hug.
You know that never happened, but because of it, look
at all the good that has come out of my
brother's sacrifice. Yes, I'd rather him be around I wish
I was helping another foundation for the same type of right,
was no question about it. I wish his five kids
had their dad. One of them's getting married on Memorial
(20:45):
Weekend on that on that Saturday night is getting married.
Another one just got engaged. All these kids, they were babies.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
They were three and a half, five years old, you
know when it happened. The oldest was ten.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
They had had a two and a half year old
and a nine month old and a nine month and
they're all doing unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
He'd be very proud of incredible. Well, I mean I
didn't realize you had a foundling facility in state nag.
I mean, this was mind blowing. And now you're you're
helping homeless veterans. This program is incredible. Where did that
come from? I mean, you've housed thousands of veterans across
the country now, Frank.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, So it came from a simple point that you know,
when something's looking at you straight in the face and
you know there's a problem with our veterans, they go
serve us right, and you're seeing them. When I was
doing my walk, remember the small walk I did. Oh yeah,
I walked from from the Pentagon to Shanksville, Pennsylvania to
Brown Zero. Right, I was walking through Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I
(21:51):
went under and overpass, and under that overpass, there were
so many homelessness people sitting under there in such a
in such a dirty, unbelievable conditions. And I spoke to
some of them, and they were veterans, and they were veterans,
And you know, that thought has never gotten out of
(22:13):
my mind. I travel all over the United States, I
see it. I see it all over, I see it
all over. Finally we spoke about it as a foundation.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I'm going to tell.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
You we almost almost didn't do it because the undertaking
is so tremendous, so large, so it seemed almost insurmountable.
And then we said, we just can't put a roof
over the head. You've got to get them all the
services they need.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, they need a community too.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
They need to be and they camp in shelters. Yeah,
they can't be in shelters. They have to have their own, like,
their own place to live, their own apartment, their own
you know, we're building these we're buying these hotels. It's
just what nineteen of them all over the United States. Right,
And we're renovating them into apartments permanent and temporary. But
you know, if the older guys is permanent, for the
(23:05):
younger ones, I wanted to be temporary. I want them
back in out there and getting their own homes and
whatever it may be. But we almost didn't do it
because it was so the undertaking was so huge, so big.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You mean in terms of the numbers, the numbers.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
The numbers turns, the amount of money. Yeah, in terms
of making sure they get the mental health.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Side right, So how are we going to do that?
How are we going to put this all together? We
did it.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
We put together a plan and finally said, I won't
say the words it it. We're doing it because it's
the right thing to do. Steven would want us to
do it. Mom and Dad would want us to do
it because they were for Assiscans. They want to take
care of the poor and the needy.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Right, they would want us to do it. We have
to do it. We have no choice. We're doing it,
and we're doing it.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Ten thousand homeless feds off the street just the last
two years, incredible thousand in ten crowns.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
We have an.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Effering I know you're involved in something that I covered
and at a time when nobody was covering it. On Fox,
we showed people those homeless veterans camped out on the
streets surrounding the la VA campus in Brentwood, this is
land that was deeded to the government to care for veterans.
Tell me what happened recently and how it involves tunnel
(24:24):
to towers. You all the part of the solution there.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, we're definitely part of the solution.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
And President Trump just signed an executive order saying that
he's going to open up to how six thousand homeless
veterans on that property. And he wants to his words,
well he was running for president. I loved it when
I had him say it. He wants to eradicate homelessness. Well,
I've been saying it for a couple of years, and
he's been running for president for the last couple of years.
(24:49):
He's saying the same thing.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
That property is so important because we know there's at
least three thousand homeless vents right on that property.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
We're already we already.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Have some of those Hova's veterans in our own property there,
all right. We poured in a.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Lot of money.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
I think it was seventy two million dollars we poured
into that project ourselves. It's painstakingly slow. It's not the
way I like to operate, to be honest with you,
Working a big government property, you need some many okays
here and there. I'm not in charge of that particular
projected I wish in some ways I wish I was,
but some cays I'd rather just stay totally independent in
(25:26):
what we're doing. But I know now with the President
saying that he's going to do this in Sciences Executive Order,
my goodness, we already met with the Secretary of HUD
and the Secretary of the VA about working with them
to make sure because the VA, you know, Doug Collins,
(25:47):
this guy gets it. I mean, he's just he's just
all in. And Turner, Scott Turner is incredible. We can't
get it done without the vouchers from the HUD vouchers.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
I can tell you that because.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
We we work with over a thousand other non for
profits around the country. When they see a homeless veteran,
they could call us up and we could get that
homeless veteran off the street immediately.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
But we need to hudge hudge vouchers to do that.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
We could get them off the street, but we need
the vouchers afterwards to keep them off the street.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Right to keep maintaining it. There's a lot of services
they need.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
And we could get them all that services because we
have case manages for every one of these people.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
We don't.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Once again, we just don't put him somewhere and say goodbye.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
It doesn't work that.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Way, Frank, How does your faith, your personal faith animate
this effort. I mean, I know you still go to
blessed sacrament on Staten Island, your boyhood parish. How this,
I know has to be an animating power as you
grow and continue to sustain. Tunnel to towers.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Well, I know what we're doing is the right thing. Therefore,
I know it's blessed. I know that the man upstairs
is opening doors for us that.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
We never knew that. It couldn't open my mind.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
You know, even go back to the story of Bob
adamcall I told you just getting the permits to go
through the tunnel. You know, he keeps on sending us people.
There's no doubt about it. He just keeps on sending
us people, companies, people, eleven dollars a month. People, all
these things. It's nothing that yes, we're bringing people together.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Am I working hard? Sure, I'm working hard, but everyone
you know, most people work hard, you know they have
to do.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
But I have the great fortune of working with these
great families on a constant basis. And once you meet
these families once again, you have no choice to but
continue doing what we're doing. So faith has everything to
do with it. I talked to my kids about faith
all the time. It's what carries you through every forget
(27:44):
about the good times. The good times you feel upbeat anyway, right,
but you thank God for it. There's no person about it.
But you know it's through difficult times that you need
your faith the most. And we needed it around nine
to eleven and he put us on this path and
it's the path we're never going to get off.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Do you worry that young people have forgotten about nine
to eleven?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Frank, Well, well, of course, but we do have at
nine to eleven Institute.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yeah, I know you do.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
We have K through twelve. We have educational You could
go go T two T dot org go to our
nine to eleven Institute. You can download right for yourself
as a parent. You could download it as a school,
you could download it as a community. You can download
it and teach it as a It's a curriculum a
lot of time and effort into because we want to
(28:26):
make sure that we out of the sacrifice and never
forget and we're going to stick with that.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
That was our first thing that we were doing and
we're never going to leave that.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, Frank, when I look at the story of the Sillers,
and when I look at Stephen's story and what you've done,
it really is about sacrificial concern, starting with Stephen and
now spreading to the entire family, and now this movement
of sacrificial concern. What would you say to Americans as
(28:54):
Memorial Day comes around again? What is their duty? What
is their role?
Speaker 2 (28:58):
I think that duty is very simple that if we're
asking people to put on a uniform and protect us,
that we must make a promise and a vow to them.
And this is very simple that if you go serve
our community or our country and you give you a
life for either one, you give your kids a kiss gobye,
(29:21):
and you don't come home. We are Americans. We are
going to take care of your family. We're going to
make sure that they have a mortgage free home, or
if they come back catastrophically ejured, that they have a
mortgage free smart home, well GoF of it. They come
back and they're mentally disturbed and they can't get back
into the swing of life, that we're going to take that.
(29:44):
We're gonna hug them, we're going to love them, we're
going to put them into place, and we're going to
get them to help to get them back so they
could be part of the family again. That is our promise,
and we ask everybody on this Memorial Day to take
that promise with us, because that's how we get it done.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Bring it up, you know. I also think, Frank, it's
so important. We used to do this with our children,
particularly when they were young. Go to these memorials for veterans,
whether it's a Vietnam memorial or World War II memorial,
every local community has them. Take the time to take
your children there and honor the sacrifice of those who
gave their lives. It inculcates I think a feeling a
(30:23):
reverence for the patriotism and the sacrifice of these men
and women, and teaches the next generation this is who
you whose shoulders you stand on and who sacrifice you
stand on?
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I agree. I sit with your children and watch a movie.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Well, in these movies about the great sacrifice, and I
did so depicted in a certain way.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Are they a little upsetting? Yes?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So what you know, Sometimes some people are saying to me, oh,
you should take off your website the two towers coming down.
I said, bull crap, excuse me. This is what happened, right,
this is what happened. You have to show what happened.
You got to be, you know, show what happened, then
show what you can do afterwards to try to make
things better. You can't stay in a bad place. It's
(31:06):
just we have a choice, and you can't stay there.
And the choice is go out and help somebody, get
out of yourself, go help somebody else. And you can't
bring back your loved one, but you could do something
to honor them in such a beautiful way.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
No. Well, I love that you've done that in so
many beautiful ways, incredible ways, and it continues to grow
and expand. I mean, I can't tell you the people
I come across who've either been helped by you or
know someone who's been helped by you, which is an
incredible legacy after an for an organization that's only been
around since two thousand and one. Frank, for every guest
on the show, I do in a royal grande questionnaire.
(31:39):
These are fast questions. There'll be no penalty at the end.
I'm going to ask you these very quickly.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Makes so fast anymore so? But go ahead.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Who is the person you most admire.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
My mother or father, two of them.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Who's the person you most despise?
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Osama bid Latin?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
What What is the best feature that you have and
the worst?
Speaker 2 (32:05):
My best feature is my faith and the worst. I
get very angry when I see bad things happen.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
I share that with you. What do you fear, Frank?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
I feel like I feel better today than I have did.
But I fear that America is moving away from what
has made us great, which is sacrificing and our faith
and that we are, you know, Judeo Christian country and
born from that, and that we have to we have
to have that understanding to stay in the greatness that
(32:37):
we that we have. So that is my biggest concern.
But I do feel better now. I'll be honest with you.
I do feel that people are coming back to faith.
I see it all the time, the people I deal
with all the time, I'm around it all the time,
the people that you know. We just did a groundbreak
in Bayville, New Jersey, where two thousand people came out
(33:00):
to see us break round on a piece of property
that we're going to be doing for homeless man.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Two thousand people.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Yes, So I see that, And if you there, you
could feel the amount of energy and love and concern
and commitment people have. So, you know, I do feel
good about America. I feel so good about America. I
feel like we're heading in a really good direction. But
we got to be careful because we can't forget you know,
(33:28):
how we got here, and we got to have our
faith faith as well.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
I love the Tunnel for Towers is Tunnel to Towers
is really a vehicle for so many people to express
not only their belief and the reverence, to reverence the
sacrifice of all these people. It's a beautiful way to
do that. What's the greatest virtue, Frank Love, what is
(33:54):
your greatest regret?
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Regrets?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I've had a few, but too few to mention, you know.
I look, we all make mistakes growing up, you know,
on things. But I'm married for.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Forty seven years.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I have three beautiful children, seven grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
You know I'm sorry my brother's gone. It kills me.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I think about them every single day, but I can't.
I can't change that. I don't have many We all
have small regrets. Yeah, there's no question about it. But
I'd have nerve to complain.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
I love that. What do you know that other people
don't know?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Frank Siller, Well, I don't know about that because I'm
not that smart. You know, I built the first smart home.
I want to say I built a smart home, not
because I'm smart, because I got somebody smart to do it.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I think I think I realized I surround myself with
just good people and talented.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
People, and that's that's how we get it. I get
it done.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
I consider myself like Tom Sworry a little bit. I
got a lot of people to paint defense for me
and back and say, look at Frank Silid. Now it's
all these people painting a fence that are doing it.
I'm just a spokesperson for them.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
That's so great. The best piece of advice you ever
received is what Frank.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
The best piece of advice today.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I tell you there's something I live by, and when
I'm angry, I do wait a day or two before
I confront something. You know, my father, who was not
a very patient person, I always take it, take a
step back, you know, before you open your mouth, because
when you open your mouth, you know, you know, if
you've two loaded, you know, you could screw terrible things.
(35:40):
I mean, I'm not gonna say I live that way
every day, but I try to.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
I try to.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
And it always seems like if you wait twenty four
hours on something, it's not as bad as it was
twenty four hours beforehand.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
In the moment. Yeah, that's great advice, actually, and particularly
for hotheads like me.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
It's pa faint on me.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
What's your favorite book, frank and the one you read
that you were really enjoyed?
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Well?
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Well, so I continuously, uh read a book about Saint
Francis of ASSISSI. I keep on reading more and more
books about San Francis ASSISI being that my parents, uh
you know or you know, live live that life. I
read daily prayers every single day. I I I love
(36:25):
reading the Bible. I'm not Bible verse that you couldn't.
I can't repeat the Bible and stuff. But I do
like reading uh scripture, Uh for sure. I put in
a lot of the things when I when I give
a talk called the speech a talk, I usually put scripture.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
In it because I related to how I'm supposed to
do things.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
So I'm a big reader. But I read more inspirational
books and and and uh and stories all the time.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
But it all relates around faith.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
What happens when this is over?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Frank, Well, first of all, this is never going to
be over the foundation. That's a promise that we're building
it the last forever. At young Stephen Jr.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Working here.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Wow, I got other family members involved because this is
a family foundation. Yet we have you know, hundreds and
hundreds of employees too, because we do build houses all over.
We do with the homeless veterans. You know, we have
case managers that have to work with these great heroes.
So this foundation will never be will never be over.
(37:39):
I'll expire like we all do. Right, I kept out
it all the time. I tell my kids that I
could be gone tomorrow. You know, you just got to
be ready, you know, because we do not know the.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Day, no the hour right as it says.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
So I'm not worried about the foundation because the work
we're doing is always going to be necessary, because there's
always going to be heroes dying us.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Wow. Well, Frank Siller, what a legacy that you're passing
on not only to your family but to all of
us and making us all a part of I thank
you for being here and for your outstanding work. And
God rests the soul of your dear brother Stephen and
all those who offered the ultimate sacrifice for us, particularly
as Memorial Day draw us closer.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Thank you, Miss America, Thank you, Remy.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Here's the whole. There's something that Frank Siller said there.
I picked up on it when I first heard it.
I even mentioned it to him where his brother Stephen said,
I will catch up with you later. And so many
of these heroes we end up trying to catch up too.
We should be catching up to them, trying to follow
(38:44):
at least their example of selfless sacrifice where they were
more concerned about others than they were even about themselves.
That's an incredible lesson and the underpinning of faith that
animates the entire Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which is something
I didn't know before I started doing research. On this interview,
and I've known Frank Sila for a long time. You
(39:05):
can support Tunnel to Towers by visiting them at t
the number two t ttwot dot org. I hope you'll
come back to a Royal Grande soon. Why live a dry,
constricted life when if you fill it with good things,
it can flow into a broad driving a Royo Grande.
Make sure you subscribe and like this episode. Thanks for
(39:27):
diving in. We'll see you next time. Royo Grande is
produced in partnership with iHeart Podcasts and is available on
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Raymond Arroyo
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