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May 26, 2024 • 16 mins
Original Air Date: May 26, 2024

The Tunnel To Towers annual climb up The WTC is coming up June 2, to raise money for the families of first responders killed in the line of duty, also for catastrophically wounded vets, Gold Star families with young children and families with children whose 1st responder parents died of a 9/11 illness. T2T is also working to END homelessness for veterans.
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Episode Transcript

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(00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,Conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. We are coming into
one of my favorite times of theyear because it has become a tradition for
me to organize a team every yearfor the first Sunday in June for that

(00:25):
team to climb the World Trade Centerto recreate the heroic acts that we saw
and heard about on September eleventh.And joining me Frank Seller, who is
one of my favorite people on earthbecause of the good that he does that

(00:47):
came out of an absolute tragedy.He of course is the head of the
Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the StephenSiller Tunnle to Towers Foundation, And for
those of you joining us, noteverybody knows the story. Steven Ziller was
off duty with the FDNY about toplay golf with his brothers when he got
the news about the attack at theWorld Trade Center. He tried to drive

(01:11):
through the Brooklyn Battery tunnel. Itwas closed in full FDNY gear fifty to
sixty pounds. He ran through thattunnel to join his brothers, only to
become one of the three hundred andforty three FDN wires to die that day
and bless the Siller family, alarge family, because that days later they

(01:36):
decided to form an organization to dosome good for first responders who fall in
the line of duty, and thathas now expanded to other first responders,
being veterans and more. So,thank you Frank Ziller, and thank you
for organizing this wonderful event. ButI'm a little ticked off because it's become

(01:57):
so popular the run up the WorldTrade Center and I just walked. It's
become such a popular event that theone thousand capacity was reached I think earlier
than any other year, before Icould even get my whole team together.
Yeah, well, this is what'shappening. Everyone knows that it goes pretty

(02:21):
quickly, so they're signing up alot of you know, climbers early on,
and this is what happens. It'syou know why it's so popular because
look, it really is so significantwhat it symbolizes, the heroics that took
place in the stairwell itself, ofso many fire fighters like Captain Billy Burke,

(02:44):
who gave his life up in thestairwell, you know, while saving
somebody else, and that's one ofthe people we honor, and their families
has a foundation to take care ofSunny Potstan who they have scholarship for children
of firefighters, and you know,so it's it's incredible. So for that

(03:05):
family, they know they're going upto stairwell, they know their brother died,
and that stairwell. I don't knowexactly where my brother was on nine
to eleven, what how many flawshe was up or you know, you
know, and who he was exactlywith at that moment, because he did
you know, he was just finishedhis night tour and squad won in Brooklyn.
As you said, he was onhis way home to play golf with

(03:28):
myself and my two of the brothers, and you know, he turned around
and got his gear and made hisfaithful run, this heroic run that we
honor every year. It is amazing. I want you to give people the
figure how much the Tunnel to TowersFoundation has raised so far over these years.

(03:50):
Well, you know, so whenI give the number, I'm nervous
that people say, oh boy,they raised a lot of money, don't
need my help. So let mejust say that we do need your help
because of what we do, andShelley, you know better than anybody what
we do. We take care ofevery cop, every law enforcement office,
everyone who dies in the line ofduty in America, and we know there's

(04:13):
over two hundred of them die ayear. You die in the line of
duty and you have a young familyleft behind, we are going to make
sure you have a mortgage free home, that your family has a mortgage freedom
after that, you know, theultimate sacrifice that you made for our community.
Same with firefighters, any law enforcement, any first responder dies in line
of duty, We're going to makesure that family is taken care of.

(04:34):
So this is throughout the country.This is not just New York, right,
this is throughout America. So ofcourse, you know, we always
make sure when it happens in ourown backyard that we take care of them,
you know, as fast as wecan. So we do that.
We take care of catastrophic delang servicemembers and first responders. You give your

(04:56):
body for our country or our community, and we'll talk about catastrop you know,
we're talking about double triple amputees.We have be built five quadruple amputees
homes. You know, your paraplegicquadriplegriic traumatic brain injury. We have some
great heroes that have traumatic brain injurythat are worse often you know, I
say than a double amputee, ifyou could say such a thing, right,

(05:17):
It's terrible even to compare, butyou know there are some that have
paid such a great price for us. So if you're a first responder,
or you served our country and yourcatastrophic langurine, we build you a mortgage
free smart home to your disability,so to what your injuries are, so
you can get around in your ownhouse and get back some of your freedoms.
Because these guys, these men andwomen, are that you know,

(05:39):
they don't want to ask anybody forhelp. So we build these houses and
then less but not least. Youknow what we're doing now. For for
the we made a commitment to eradicatehomelessness amongst our veterans, and we're doing
that all across America. Thirty fivehundred homeless veterans off the street last year
into their own dwellings and all thecomprehensive services they need, the emotional support,

(06:03):
the mental support that they need toassimilate back into society. And we're
on talking for five thousand this year, Lly, five thousand homeless fats this
year. We're going to go upthe street. So the question was how
much money have we raised? Butin one of preference, no matter what
we raise, I need a billiondollars a year at least to take care

(06:26):
of all these problems. Okay,So I just want to make that Clay,
I needed billion dollars a year totake all these There's over fifty thousand
homeless veterans that went out to protectus the service, to put their life
on the line. We better takecare of them when they come back.
And if you saw what they saw, you wouldn't be You might have some
of the same such psychological problems.So we raised over over five hundred million

(06:48):
dollars. We're on close to probablymore like seven hundred and fifty million dollars
and ticking every year. But ourgoal is to get to believe it,
not billion dollars a year, whichsounds absurd, you know, from a
founder from a family foundation that wejust wanted to honor our little brother who

(07:08):
made such a sacrifice on September eleventh, two thousand and one. But to
do the work that we're doing,we need the support of everybody and things
like this Shelley the climb right thatputs a big spotlight on the Freedom Tower,
and the sacrifice that was made thatday is how we get it done.
We want to make sure we neverforget. That's our first mission is,
and never forget the sacrifice that wasmade. I'm speaking with Frank Siller.

(07:31):
He and his family founded the StephenSiller Tunnel to Towers Foundation days after
the tragic death of firefighter Stephen Siller, who was one of three hundred and
forty three to die on September eleventh, two thousand and one. Correct me
if I'm wrong, Frank, youtake not one dime in salary from Tunnel

(07:56):
to Towers. I do not takea salary. How many of organizations can
say that? This is why Iam a total supporter of Tunnel to Towers.
Now, I know they have aneleven dollars a month pledge, but
I want you to put that onhold because I would like you to donate

(08:16):
in the name of my team.We'll get to the well. Because I
have a fundraising golf rank and I'mvery competitive, and you know that.
So God to one to four tothree dot com slash Tunnel to Towers and
make a donation to our team.But then come the holidays, or come

(08:37):
a memory of someone who died inyour family in their honor. I can
think almost anyone can afford eleven dollarsa month. Pledge you don't miss it.
I did it everyone I know.Almost everyone I know has done it

(08:58):
when I have asked. And ofcourse eleven for nine eleven you know two
t dot Org Shelley, You're right. Everybody, most everybody in America can
afford eleven dollars a month. Andif you can do more, you should
do more. But joined us onour promise, I say, everybody,
you know, Tunnel the Towers madea promise that we're going to take care
of these great heroes and their familiesthat left behind. Join us on that

(09:22):
promise and for eleven dollars a month. You know, we believe in the
multitudes. You know, the FightDepartments has many hands, makes light work.
So we believe that at the Tunnelto twis foundation, many donors,
many hands makes light work. Andthat's why we have such a small amount
that we're asking for. People.And once again, if you do more,
you should do more. You know, we depend on corporate donations.

(09:45):
We have Home Depot, we haveGeneral Motives, we have American Express,
we have so many beautiful companies thathave joined us and donate millions and millions
of dollars. But we count onthe Blue cot eleven dollar a month,
rassroots, you know, work thatwe do that we bring the multitudes together

(10:07):
to get this done. Just makeyour own coffee for two days. What
is so difficult about that? Right? I had Dave Portnoy. I did
something with Dave Portnoy, and hesaid, because he does all this pizza,
you know, tasting, you knowwho's got the best teacher. And
he says, hey, just don'teat a pie. One pie, one

(10:28):
small little pie, you know,once a month. That's all you have
to do is give up one pieand you can help these families. And
I agree, it's not a lotto ask people to do. But at
the same point, you know,it's it's makes such a huge difference in
these lives of all these great heroesin their families that are left behind.

(10:50):
Eleven dollars can do that. It'sincredible. Do you find twenty three years
later fatigue when it comes to thepublic reaction to September eleventh, you have
a whole generation that wasn't there.You know, it's funny, you know,
I wish so I know, whenwe bring it to different cities.

(11:11):
You know, we have a nineto eleven exhibit that goes around. The
reaction is tremendous, beautiful. It'syou know, wherever we go. We
have runs all across the country,you know, climbs all across the country,
one hundred and twenty golf outings peopledoing for us all over the country,
nearly three thousand third party events.People go out. You know,
we find out somebody's raising money forus and we don't even know that they

(11:35):
were doing it, and then theyhand us a check. It's like,
it's incredible. So in that vein. So when we get the message out
there like we do it today,the reaction is tremendous. But it's you
know, we have a curriculum onour website from k through twelve that that
you could download and learn about thestories of nine to eleven per professionals by

(12:01):
professors. You know, it isreally well done and it's age appropriate obviously,
and you know, so we seea tremendous response in the amount of
young people that are getting involved withus. Is very uplifting and inspiring and
encouraging to know that. I thinkthat as years go on, Yes,

(12:22):
just like Pearl Harbor, right hey, pearls for all of the day.
You know, December seventh, nineteenforty one is not the same today.
People remember it, we honor it, but you know, when it's eighty
years later, ninety years later,things do change. In our case,
twenty three years. It's not along time. But there is a generation

(12:43):
that really doesn't know about what happenedon September eleventh. We're trying to keep
those that generation formed. Is itrequired by law to be taught in New
York and New Jersey schools? No? In some of it. They do
teach some of it, you know, they have a curriculum they I mean
they have they mentioned it and Septembereleventh. I know, so my kids,

(13:05):
I have grandkids in New Jersey,in New York, and they do
talk about it, they do,you know, But do they teach about
it the way they should teach aboutit. No way, There's no way.
They just they really don't. Youknow, they don't teach a lot
of things in school today that theyshould teach. I was just talking to
somebody about that just a few minutesago. And they teach things that they

(13:26):
shouldn't teach. They should be upto the parents to teach. So they
got it upside down. We're inan upside down world right now. But
you know what, I stay inmy lane. My lane is to make
sure we do good out of allthese great heroes, to raise that money
so we could pay off these mortgages. Hey, I know this year we
have the widow of Officer Bavaro,was a poor authority officer who died believe

(13:50):
or not not on September eleventh,two thousand and one, but died of
September eleventh, twenty twenty two andtwenty twenty one. Just to he was
on his way into work at thememorial on nine eleven to work there.
We had a press service at theTunnels of Tawas Foundation and he died.

(14:11):
Something went the wrong way on aramp and he left behind a wife,
Kerry, and four kids. Andhere's the thing, I knew the family.
I know the family, so Vavarrofamily I didn't know is any but
Kerry Bavarro, his wife that wasleft behind was the daughter of a good

(14:35):
friend of mine, New York Cityfire Jimmy Thompson, who has a couple
of kids on the fire department.And I know the Thompson's are from Staten
Island, and I know them allmy life. They're just a beautiful family.
And when I heard this, it'sjust it's just just breaks your heart.
It just breaks your heart. Andwe paid the mortgage right away.

(14:58):
But here's the thing. She's STIin the climb. She's doing the climb.
Wow, She's doing it in honorof her love, her husband,
Anthony, and to make sure thathe's not forgotten. And that's what I
love about the Tunnels of Tabas Foundation, that we want to honor and recognize
all those who made the ultimate andpaid the ultimate sacrifice. And you know,

(15:20):
and she's doing it in honor ofher love. So it's beautiful.
It's gonna be emotional, but youknow you're running up those days. It
ain't I can't attest to it becauseI've never done it. But I have
two of my children doing it thisyear, and I have a nephew and
a niece too. Of Steven's childrenare doing it this year, maybe three,

(15:45):
So it's terrific. It is terrific. It is painful and difficult,
but when you are finished, youwill feel exhilarated. It's an amazing experience.
Thank you so much, Frank Zillerfor all you do, and again,
if you didn't join our team thisyear, you can donate go to
Q one o four three dot comslash Tunnel to Towers TDT. You've been

(16:07):
listening to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,a production of New York's classic rock Q
one o four point three
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