Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Greasy Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning, and I am so happy to reintroduce you
to a man that I am so proud to call
a friend. And I always give him a very very
big bear hug whenever I see him, which is usually
when I'm extremely sweaty and kind of disgusting, because he
is Frank Siller, the chairman and CEO of the Steven
(00:34):
Ziller Tunnel to Towers Foundation. And when I see Frank
in person, it is usually at the top of the
World Trade Center after I have completed my one hundred
and four story climb, And like I said, I'm always
so happy to see him, but I'm always very sweaty,
and you know, not at my best. But we do
(00:57):
this because we aim to do some good out of
one of the worst tragedies in American history. First of all,
good to see you again, Frank Kelly.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
So nice seeing you, and I don't mind hugging you
in your sweating because I know what you did was
you've made a great sacrifice yourself by ranging up those
two thousand two hundred and twenty six steps to honor
so many great heroes.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
But the reason we're here this morning is that we
are a week away from an even bigger event. Last
year over forty thousand participated, and this year this is
recreating the steps Steven Seller took. This is why the
(01:45):
Tunnel to Towers Organization exists. What we are doing on
the last Sunday of the month on the twenty ninth
is tens of thousands of us will be re tracing
the steps that off duty FDN wire Steven Ziller, the
(02:05):
youngest brother of Frank, took on the day on September eleventh,
twenty three years ago when he was he was about
to play golf with Stephen and with Frank and other brothers,
and had knew what was going on. Suddenly at the
World Trade Center, put on his FDNY gear, which is
(02:30):
fifty pounds at least, and drove to the Brooklyn Battery
tunnel which was closed. And so he ran through that
closed Brooklyn Battery tunnel to the World Trade Center, where
unfortunately he died along with three hundred and forty two
of his brothers. And it was that very week this
incredible family came together and decided to do some good
(02:54):
out of some bad, which to me, Frank, is just
an amazing story to begin with. But the amount of
good you have done since. Tell us about it. Tell
us the latest with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Well, thanks, Shelly, and I love you tell the story
so beautifully. You know, Stephen, you know, had a choice
twenty three years ago to either you know, play golf
with his brothers, the four of us. We are going
to play golf, or to turn his truck around and
do what firefighters and first responders in our military always do,
which runs towards danger. And while doing that, he gave
(03:30):
up his life. And so, you know, so the foundation
over the years has evolved into doing these enormous programs.
We have these enormous programs where we're going to take
care very catastrophically injured service member and first responder that
(03:50):
you know, to give them a mortgage free smart home,
to build them a home for their injuries. You know,
they go overseas they're protecting us. You know, they step
on an eye, or you know they shot, they're paralyzed,
or you know they're jumping out of a plane and
you know they hit the ground a certain way and
they become paralyzed. There's so many ways for these guys
(04:10):
that they've given up their bodies that we need to
build them these specially adapted smart homes, and we're so
proud that, you know, we we do about forty or
fifty of them a year, but my goal is to
do within three years. I think we're going to be
able to do eighty to one hundred per year. And
it's not a small task because we have to buy
(04:31):
the property. We have to, you know, we build the
way they want to live. We have to find the property,
which is not easy, and you know, and then get it,
you know, run through, get all the permits and set
a set of designed and designed for their specific injuries,
and then and then build it. And it's it's no
small task on each one of them, no small task,
(04:51):
and a lot of cases they're in their homes already
and we will pay off their mortgages and remodel it
so that it has all those important elements in a
house that gives them back their independence. And we do
that for first responders also. But you know, we take
care of gold stark widows or widowers who lost their
(05:12):
love on underline of duty that leave behind young kids,
and if they don't have a house, we're going to
buy them a house or build them a house. And
if they have a house, we're going to pay off
the mortgage. And which is remarkable now is the twentieth anniversary.
December twentieth will be the twentieth anniversary because it was
December twenty, twenty fourteen that detectors Lou and Ramos were
(05:34):
assassinated here in New York and actually in Brooklyn and
where we heard as a foundation, and I heard that
they were worried about their mortgages, how they're going to
be able to stay in their houses, and that horrific
event has evolved our foundation into making sure that. Yeah,
I met them on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve, I went
(05:56):
to the house and told the total the Tower is
going to pay off your mortgage. And I went, I
didn't have the money. I just told we were going
to do it. And then I went on TV radio
You helped and asked that people will donate. In ten days,
we're raise enough money to pay off both both mortgages
and help renovate the houses. But it changed the foundation
forever because now Shelley and you know this. You know
(06:19):
a foundation made a promise that we're going to pay
off every mortgage, but every first responder was a police officer,
buy a fighter, first responder in the country that dies
in a line of duty, that leaves a young family behind,
every single one. We're doing over two hundred of a
year and last, but not certainly least what we're doing.
(06:41):
Last November, on a Veteran's Day, we had a press
conference and I made a statement that the Tunnels of
Towers Foundation is going to eradicate homelessness amongst our veterans.
And last year we did thirty three hundred, I believe
what it was. And this year we're on talk for
sixty five hundred homeless veterans off the streets into their
(07:03):
own apartment, own dwelling. These are magnificent places for them
to live, but we get them all the comprehensive services
that they need to assimilate back in society. So we
took on this problem and I say it out loud,
That's why I do press conferences. I say, we're going
to take care every catastrophically injured. We're going to take
(07:25):
care of every first respond every goal start family and
now we're going to eradicate homelessness. Because you say it
out loud, you have to do it. And I count
on the generosity of your listeners and you know, and
many others that will join us on the mission. You know,
it's eleven dollars a month, you know, Shelley, if I
say that once, I've said it so many times. You know,
(07:47):
eleven dollars a month is not asking too much. So
go to T two T and eleven dollars a month.
We can get this all done together.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I'm thinking this, this is maybe one and a half.
You know, coffee drinks that you have a week, and
you probably have more than that. Most of us can
afford that with that within the blink of an eye.
What I love about the Steven Ziller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
(08:18):
There are a lot of groups that do a lot
of good, but you guys do it on a huge scale.
And you get when the police officers were murdered. I
mean that's what got me. You paid off those mortgages
in days. And the reason they can do this is
because the family runs the organization. This isn't a this
(08:41):
isn't your typical charity at all. And if you look
up Tunnel to Towers on charity navigator dot com, you
will see how highly rated they are. Frank Siller doesn't
take a dime. He's been doing this for twenty three years.
He's an extraordinary man. And like I said, I am
so proud to know him. I am so proud to
(09:04):
call him a friend. I mean, we go we never
talk politics, we do not go there. We are on
the same page when it comes to a cause dear
to our hearts, and I know listeners who are listening here.
I'm telling you this organization is the real deal. You
(09:24):
can do the eleven dollars a month tetot dot org.
You could also donate on behalf of our team and
you can go to Q one O four to three
dot com slash sheet t T. But Frank, I'm so
excited this year because we have the biggest run walk
team ever in our history.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
We have fifty people in counting Keith. They keep signing up.
I am just so excited and so proud of my
listeners for joining this cause. And I'm going to be
sending them an email and telling them exactly where we're meeting,
because tell it's very hard. It's hard to find a
(10:05):
place to meet because tell us, Frank, how many people
are running and walking this year?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
At least forty thousand. We're ahead of registration that we
were last year, you know, but look, we honor so
many heroes that day. You know, when you come through
that tunnel, after you run through that tunnel, which is
almost two miles long, and you hear all the patriotic
music inside the tunnels and the chants for all the
different military personnel that are running and cadence, and it's
(10:32):
remarkable the spirit that's inside the tunnel. But when you
come out, you realize the sacrifice that was made on
nine to eleven, because we have firefighters and police officers
holding banners of the pictures of their lost brothers and
sisters who gave their life on nine to eleven, including
Port Authority police officers. And then we have these seven
(10:54):
thousand plus names of all those who died in Global
War on Terror because we went to war because what
happened nine to eleven. So it's almost a mile long
of these people. These here are these first responders and
r O t TC kids, you know, high school kids
that have volunteered their time for the day to hold
(11:14):
the names of all these great heroes that died, and
it's it's uh, it's cut wrenching in many ways, but
you're gonna have You're gonna have every emotion on that day.
You're gonna run every emotion. You're going to have the
spirit of America. You're going to have a celebration. You're
gonna have when you come out of the tunnel, you're
(11:35):
gonna heart's gonna break because you're gonna see all the
pictures of all these great heroes. You can see the
great sacrifice that's made. You're going to see a lot
of gold star families, a lot of full and first
responded families with their own kids by their names of
their loved one or the pictures of their loved one.
Being very emotional. It's very emotional. You know that next
mile is very emotional. But when you come around the
(11:56):
street and you come to the finish line and you
see the celebration that we have at the end on
the street, you know celebration where I call it the
Miracle of lows and fishes because we feed everybody, or
my fire fighter buddies, all those grills and all different
volunteers and so many have been doing it for twenty
three years. We have so many people that have come
(12:16):
a year after year, and it's we can't do it
without our volunteers. It's it's remarkable the commitment that people
have shown towards our foundation. But they've all been touched
by nine to eleven also and maybe lost somebody afterwards.
So it's a big celebration. We're going to feed them,
we have music, and it's a way to celebrate their lives,
(12:37):
because you know, we have to celebrate their lives. These
great heroes will full of a lot of life, and
we want to make sure that we're full of life
and saying thank you for your sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I'm telling you those who have not participated, this will
be one of the most emotional experiences of your life.
You have to do it at least once, and I
trust that once you do it, you're going to do
it every year like I do it. Okay, frank we
only have like a minute and a half left. We
are two years away from the twenty fifth anniversary. Any
thoughts on what will be happening then to commemorate because
(13:11):
every year that passes, Frankly, there's a whole generation that
is removed from the reality of what you and I well,
especially what you felt on that day losing your brother.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, so yes, of course I'm thinking about the twenty
fifth anniversary, but I'm also thinking about the fiftieth anniversary
and the seventy fifth and one hundredth anniversary, and that
our foundation has to be here forever because the sacrifice
that's made by these great heroes are going to continue
and there has to be an organization, a foundation that's
there that's going to take care of these families that
pay the ultimate sacrifice. The families pay a big price
(13:49):
for the loved ones who go protect us. And so yeah,
I'm not going to say exactly what we're going to
be doing for the twenty fifth year, but just know
that to me, the twenty third year is just as important.
The twenty fourth year is just as important. The twenty
fifth year, everybody's going to pay attention. So it's a
twenty sixth year that is the most important to make
(14:09):
sure that people don't forget on the twenty sixth year,
and that's what we're going to make sure that happens.
That this foundation will always be there for these great families.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
And I just want to let listeners know you can
still join our team, only the walk team, because we
have hit our capacity with those who are actually running
the race. But you can join our walk team. We're
fifty proud strong right now, but I'd love for all
of you to join us. So go to Q one
O four to three dot com slash T to T
(14:41):
that's T the number two T. And again, if you
can't do this, maybe you can't do it this year,
maybe you can't physically do this. You can donate two
ways through our website in the name of our team,
or very simply go to T to T dot org
eleven dollars a month. Like I said, most of us
(15:05):
can afford it, and your money is going in the
right place. And Frank bless and I won't see you,
I'm sure on the twenty ninth, because it might be
forty to fifty thousand people.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Be looking for you. My wife loves you. My wife
I love you, she says. Shelley is one of the
nicest people in the world. That's our quote this morning
when I told you know what I was going to
be talking to you. So she knows that you're sincere
and that you are a great help to the Foundation,
so thank you, Shelley, accomplish you and of course Q
one O four.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You've been listening to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one o four point
three