May 25, 2025 • 15 mins
Original Air Date: May 25, 2025
Tunnel To Towers holds its 9th WTC climb up the 104 stories Sunday June 1st. I am proud to lead a team of 22 Q104.3 listeners in this year’s climb. T2T CEO & President Frabk Siller details the good work T2T does.
Tunnel To Towers holds its 9th WTC climb up the 104 stories Sunday June 1st. I am proud to lead a team of 22 Q104.3 listeners in this year’s climb. T2T CEO & President Frabk Siller details the good work T2T does.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
My good friend Frank Seller, the president and CEO of
the wonderful, incredible, I think best charity on Earth, the
Great Tunnel to Towers Organization YEAD. Frank founded this with
his family days after nine to eleven days after losing
(00:34):
his youngest brother, Stephen Siller. If you need to be
reminded of the story, if you do not know the story,
if you're listening to us for the first time. Stephen
was an off duty FDN wire, a member of the
city Fire Department, and he was about to play golf
with his brothers, and he was in Brooklyn when he
(00:56):
got word of the Twin Towers being attacked, and he
tried to drive through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The Brooklyn
Battery Tunnel was closed, and so in full fire gear,
he ran through the closed Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the
World Trade Center, where unfortunately he died with three hundred
(01:18):
and forty two other FDN wires on that day, September eleventh,
twenty four years ago. And like I said, days after that,
the Siller family, still in shock, obviously in mourning as
a family, formed an organization to help the families of
(01:40):
fallen first responders, and it has since expanded to include
well many more, but specifically, something I'd like to focus
on today veterans because we consider both Frank and I
consider our military members to be first responders as well.
And you're your family just does such incredible work. I mean,
(02:03):
anytime I mentioned Tunneled to Towers, Frank, people just have
such awesome respect. And the reason that we're joined together
today Memorial Day Weekend Sunday is to honor those we lost,
but also to talk about the Tunnel to Towers World
Trade Center climb, which will be taking place at this
(02:27):
time exactly a week from now. And Frank, I'm so
proud to have twenty two members on my climb team
this year, So thank you, thank you so much for
all your good work.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Oh thanks, Shelly, And you know I love that you
get twenty two climbers dealing it with you. And that's
no small task to go up one hundred and four stories,
two thy two, one hundred and twenty six steps. It's
it's incredible, it's and it's so emotional. You think about
all the stories that happen on nine to eleven inside
this their wells. It's so symbolic of the heroism of
(03:02):
that day. And you know, by you and so many
others that go up those staircases. Many look, we have
a Scott no Oakes, a double amputee and he's blind.
He does it every year, you know. And he was
a firefighter and then he became a marine and then
lost as both limbs and became blind and and and
(03:24):
he did decline before and after, you know, with his
legs and without his legs, and he is just an inspiration.
But so many people are that that that day and
it's it's it's painful for those who you know, do it,
but it's uh you think of the courage that really
happened inside those stairwells. And that's why it's important that
(03:45):
we have days like this and and here we are
talking about on you know, Memorial weekend. It's so important
that we never forget the sacrifice that was that was
made on September eleventh, two thousand and one, and then
we went to war and we lost over seven thousand
men and women in the Global War on terror, and
you know the Tunnel to Talis Foundation, we honor those
(04:05):
seven thousand men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice
for us every year at the tunnel that was run
the last Sunday in September, where we have the names
and pictures of all of them, you know, throughout the
whole the whole run. So but you've been a great supporter.
I can't thank you enough. You've been getting helping us
carry the message to do good out there, to help
(04:28):
these families that pay those loved ones pay the ultimate sacrifice,
and so therefore that families pay the ultimate sacrifice. So
I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Shelby, Well, it's the least I can do. And I
think of those we lost that day as I'm doing
the climb. But I also think of those who survived
September eleventh, those in the FDNY, those in the EMS,
those NYP DearS who survived and now have nine leven
(05:00):
illnesses and with the recent and cannot make this climb themselves,
and the job cuts now with the World Trade Center
health program. I mean, it's just to me, it's mind
boggling what's going on. So, I mean, all of us
feel frustrated with some things that are going on today.
(05:22):
I think you have to control what you can control
and contribute where you can contribute, which is where why
I do this climb every single year. This is something
I can do to help. Everybody has something they can
do to help. We cannot control everything around us, but
(05:43):
you have some control over something. And those of you
listening who were not able to join us on the climb,
maybe you can't do it physically, or maybe you couldn't
sign up because let me tell you, it filled up
like in a day. I mean I sent out the
email to my team members and prospective team members the
(06:04):
same day, and I said, you have to sign up
today or you know, there's a one thousand member cap
and you're not going to get in. So if you
want to do it, sign up today. But if you couldn't,
you can still donate, and you could do this one
of two ways. I mean, I would love for you
to donate in the name of our team, So you
go to Q one O four to three dot com
(06:25):
slash tunnel two towers and you can donate on behalf
of our team. But you can also donate at t
toot dot org eleven dollars a month. Eleven dollars a month.
Almost everyone can afford the eleven dollars a month for
the good work that Tunnel two Towers does. So Frank,
(06:47):
tell tell people about the programs you have for the veterans,
because I think it's it's just extraordinary what you're doing.
I mean, you took on a gigantic mission. Anyone who
would hear you describe what is the goal they're going
to thank You're out of your mind, Frank Siller, what
(07:07):
do you think?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Egg, Well, I tell you, I know I'm not out
of my mind because when you meet these great people
and they've paid such a price for our freedom that
I know that America is the greatest country that have existed,
and I know Americas are the most generous people. So
I know all I do is try to bring them together.
And our foundation makes a promise to make sure we
do it in a very in a way that we
(07:31):
make sure that their donation goes to these great people.
And because you know, we're proud of the work that
we've been doing. So you know, as we talk today,
you know we're given out twenty five hundred excuse me,
twenty five mortgage free homes the gold Star Widows, and
we're also deliver mortgage free smart homes for our country's
(07:55):
most catastrophic and the NASU of service members. We're going
to average over one a.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Week this year.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah, in twenty twenty four or we're given out over
one mortgage free smart home to a catastrophically injured service
member every week of this year, over fifty two of them.
Now goal is to do sixty of them, and next
year we our goal is to do one hundred of
them because there's so many still waiting for a home
(08:25):
that they can get around in with their catastrophic injuries.
And I just can't believe the waiting list is so long.
My heart breaks for it. And some of these guys
were hurt in two thousand and nine, ten, you know,
twelve thirteen.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
How many are on the list, Frank.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Over three hundred and fifty that we have right now,
three hundred and fifty catastrophically injured servicemen and women who've
given their bodies for our country do not have mortgage
free smart homes. The technology in the homes, they're giving
back a lot of their independence. We used to do
(09:01):
thirty or forty a year, which was a lot, but
they're just coming. They're just so many. And now people
know that we're doing this and they come to us
in droves, which I'm happy about. But it's not easy
to build a smart home, and we do it all
over the country, and we do it as a generosity
of Americas, like I said, and we do it eleven
(09:22):
dollars a month. Think of that. That's what eleven dollars
a month does. You could do the math. If I'm
going to do over one hundred of these smart homes
next year, each one cost Hey the numbers. You know
what a house costs to build today, and these houses
have to be a little bit bigger, a little bit wider,
all the hallways, everything. The technology is expensive to do it.
(09:42):
So the land today is a couple of hundred thousand
dollars to buy the land. And then you know, to
build a twenty four to twenty five hundred square foot
home is you know, it's like three hundred plus dollars
a square foot. So you can do the math. You know,
it's up with its eight one hundred thousand to them
sometimes or more for each one of these homes that
we're building. So if for doing a hundred of them.
(10:03):
Need I have to do the math for you, you know,
you know, and then we have to make sure that
we stay with these great heroes and make sure that
any maintenance and stuff like that, that these homes are
being taken care of. So we do that, and then
at the same time, we're paying off all these mortgages
for gold Star widows. Now you know how many widows
there were with young children. You have to have young families,
(10:24):
and even with the training exercises today, someone of them
still are dying dozens a year, and you know, so
we and then fallen first responders, you die in the
line of duty anywhere in the country and you have
a young family left behind, We're going to pay off
your mortgage and if you don't have a home, we're
gonna we're going to buy you a home. So that's
(10:46):
one hundred more of those a year. So you know,
by the end of next year, we will have paid
off delivered over two thousand mortgage three homes over the
last twenty five years at the end of next year,
and we're very obviously we're very proud of that, but
(11:09):
there's a lot more work to be done. As I
was just talking about there's so much more, so many
more smart homes that we have to build for a
catastrophically injured service members and first responders. We do first
responders too because the end.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
But you also have a goal of ending homelessness among veterans.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, but you know, so I always you know, before
we talk about the homeless veterans, I need to always
talk about what we were first doing, which is taking
care of all these great families that sacrifice their lives
for our country or our community. Right, because I don't
know what people think that we're doing. You know that
we made a promise to eradicate homelessness amongst our veterans,
(11:49):
that we're not going to do the other work we've
been doing for all these years. No, we're always going
to do that work. It was the first part of
our mission. But you know what, these great men and
women go to serve us, serve our country, they see
horrific things. They come back, they can't assimilate back in
society for whatever reason it may be. But if they
were on the battlefield, we would never leave them on
the battlefield, right, the men and women servant, So what
(12:11):
can we leave them on the streets of America. It's unacceptable,
and we made a promise going to eradicate homelesses amongst
the veterans, and over ten thousand homeless veterans in the
last two years we have taken off the streets, put
them in their own place to live, and we don't
put them in shelters because shelters don't work. We put
them in their own house or apartment, and we get
(12:33):
them all the comprehensive services they need to get back
that they're footing to get back into society, you know,
to take care of these problems that they have to
put them on the street to begin with. So we're
very proud of the work we're doing.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
So, Frank, you've helped ten thousand homeless veterans. Do you
have a total figure of how many homeless veterans there
are in our country?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, so it's the government says there's about forty thousand,
ten thousand off the street. They say they still say
it's forty thousand, So there's a lot more than that.
My guest midst at least fifty to sixty thousand homeless veterans.
That being said, we're also stopping many of them before
(13:16):
they're chronically homeless for a year or two years, because
that's where they the US government. If you're on the
street six months or a year, you consider a homeless fed,
not for a couple of weeks or a month or whatever.
So we we find out. We have case managers all
over We work with over a thousand non for profits
around the country, and when we hear of let's just say,
(13:39):
somewhere in Oklahoma, there's a homeless veteran. I don't have
a veteran's village in Oklahoma, but we could take that
homeless veteran right off the street, get them into an apartment,
and get them all the services they need like that.
And we get these calls every single day, you know,
to our you know, we have a you know, when
(13:59):
you call, you talk to a person with someone calls
Tunnel always you talk to a person. We have a
donor services team that is that is tremendous, and we
feel it's important that people talk to people, especially these
great heroes.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And I just want to mention you know now this
is something Frank Siller has been doing as CEO and
president of Tunnel to Towers for twenty four years now,
close to twenty five years and he doesn't take a
diamond pay. And how many organizations can say that? And
(14:34):
I say that that's everything. I mean, this is what
this man has done. It all comes back to what
I kind of mentioned to begin with, about doing something
that you can control, you can contribute. You can't change
the world yourself, but one person does make a difference.
(14:56):
And I truly truly believe that. And we have very
little time left, I'm going to implore you this is
a good organization. I know so many needs your help,
but I know this one gets the help to where
it needs quickly. Honestly, I totally back Tunneled to Towers.
(15:18):
Please go to our website Q one O four to
three dot com slash tunnel to Towers. Donate whatever you can.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
You've been listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one O four point
three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
My good friend Frank Seller, the president and CEO of
the wonderful, incredible, I think best charity on Earth, the
Great Tunnel to Towers Organization YEAD. Frank founded this with
his family days after nine to eleven days after losing
(00:34):
his youngest brother, Stephen Siller. If you need to be
reminded of the story, if you do not know the story,
if you're listening to us for the first time. Stephen
was an off duty FDN wire, a member of the
city Fire Department, and he was about to play golf
with his brothers, and he was in Brooklyn when he
(00:56):
got word of the Twin Towers being attacked, and he
tried to drive through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The Brooklyn
Battery Tunnel was closed, and so in full fire gear,
he ran through the closed Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the
World Trade Center, where unfortunately he died with three hundred
(01:18):
and forty two other FDN wires on that day, September eleventh,
twenty four years ago. And like I said, days after that,
the Siller family, still in shock, obviously in mourning as
a family, formed an organization to help the families of
(01:40):
fallen first responders, and it has since expanded to include
well many more, but specifically, something I'd like to focus
on today veterans because we consider both Frank and I
consider our military members to be first responders as well.
And you're your family just does such incredible work. I mean,
(02:03):
anytime I mentioned Tunneled to Towers, Frank, people just have
such awesome respect. And the reason that we're joined together
today Memorial Day Weekend Sunday is to honor those we lost,
but also to talk about the Tunnel to Towers World
Trade Center climb, which will be taking place at this
(02:27):
time exactly a week from now. And Frank, I'm so
proud to have twenty two members on my climb team
this year, So thank you, thank you so much for
all your good work.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Oh thanks, Shelly, And you know I love that you
get twenty two climbers dealing it with you. And that's
no small task to go up one hundred and four stories,
two thy two, one hundred and twenty six steps. It's
it's incredible, it's and it's so emotional. You think about
all the stories that happen on nine to eleven inside
this their wells. It's so symbolic of the heroism of
(03:02):
that day. And you know, by you and so many
others that go up those staircases. Many look, we have
a Scott no Oakes, a double amputee and he's blind.
He does it every year, you know. And he was
a firefighter and then he became a marine and then
lost as both limbs and became blind and and and
(03:24):
he did decline before and after, you know, with his
legs and without his legs, and he is just an inspiration.
But so many people are that that that day and
it's it's it's painful for those who you know, do it,
but it's uh you think of the courage that really
happened inside those stairwells. And that's why it's important that
(03:45):
we have days like this and and here we are
talking about on you know, Memorial weekend. It's so important
that we never forget the sacrifice that was that was
made on September eleventh, two thousand and one, and then
we went to war and we lost over seven thousand
men and women in the Global War on terror, and
you know the Tunnel to Talis Foundation, we honor those
(04:05):
seven thousand men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice
for us every year at the tunnel that was run
the last Sunday in September, where we have the names
and pictures of all of them, you know, throughout the
whole the whole run. So but you've been a great supporter.
I can't thank you enough. You've been getting helping us
carry the message to do good out there, to help
(04:28):
these families that pay those loved ones pay the ultimate sacrifice,
and so therefore that families pay the ultimate sacrifice. So
I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Shelby, Well, it's the least I can do. And I
think of those we lost that day as I'm doing
the climb. But I also think of those who survived
September eleventh, those in the FDNY, those in the EMS,
those NYP DearS who survived and now have nine leven
(05:00):
illnesses and with the recent and cannot make this climb themselves,
and the job cuts now with the World Trade Center
health program. I mean, it's just to me, it's mind
boggling what's going on. So, I mean, all of us
feel frustrated with some things that are going on today.
(05:22):
I think you have to control what you can control
and contribute where you can contribute, which is where why
I do this climb every single year. This is something
I can do to help. Everybody has something they can
do to help. We cannot control everything around us, but
(05:43):
you have some control over something. And those of you
listening who were not able to join us on the climb,
maybe you can't do it physically, or maybe you couldn't
sign up because let me tell you, it filled up
like in a day. I mean I sent out the
email to my team members and prospective team members the
(06:04):
same day, and I said, you have to sign up
today or you know, there's a one thousand member cap
and you're not going to get in. So if you
want to do it, sign up today. But if you couldn't,
you can still donate, and you could do this one
of two ways. I mean, I would love for you
to donate in the name of our team, So you
go to Q one O four to three dot com
(06:25):
slash tunnel two towers and you can donate on behalf
of our team. But you can also donate at t
toot dot org eleven dollars a month. Eleven dollars a month.
Almost everyone can afford the eleven dollars a month for
the good work that Tunnel two Towers does. So Frank,
(06:47):
tell tell people about the programs you have for the veterans,
because I think it's it's just extraordinary what you're doing.
I mean, you took on a gigantic mission. Anyone who
would hear you describe what is the goal they're going
to thank You're out of your mind, Frank Siller, what
(07:07):
do you think?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Egg, Well, I tell you, I know I'm not out
of my mind because when you meet these great people
and they've paid such a price for our freedom that
I know that America is the greatest country that have existed,
and I know Americas are the most generous people. So
I know all I do is try to bring them together.
And our foundation makes a promise to make sure we
do it in a very in a way that we
(07:31):
make sure that their donation goes to these great people.
And because you know, we're proud of the work that
we've been doing. So you know, as we talk today,
you know we're given out twenty five hundred excuse me,
twenty five mortgage free homes the gold Star Widows, and
we're also deliver mortgage free smart homes for our country's
(07:55):
most catastrophic and the NASU of service members. We're going
to average over one a.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Week this year.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah, in twenty twenty four or we're given out over
one mortgage free smart home to a catastrophically injured service
member every week of this year, over fifty two of them.
Now goal is to do sixty of them, and next
year we our goal is to do one hundred of
them because there's so many still waiting for a home
(08:25):
that they can get around in with their catastrophic injuries.
And I just can't believe the waiting list is so long.
My heart breaks for it. And some of these guys
were hurt in two thousand and nine, ten, you know,
twelve thirteen.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
How many are on the list, Frank.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Over three hundred and fifty that we have right now,
three hundred and fifty catastrophically injured servicemen and women who've
given their bodies for our country do not have mortgage
free smart homes. The technology in the homes, they're giving
back a lot of their independence. We used to do
(09:01):
thirty or forty a year, which was a lot, but
they're just coming. They're just so many. And now people
know that we're doing this and they come to us
in droves, which I'm happy about. But it's not easy
to build a smart home, and we do it all
over the country, and we do it as a generosity
of Americas, like I said, and we do it eleven
(09:22):
dollars a month. Think of that. That's what eleven dollars
a month does. You could do the math. If I'm
going to do over one hundred of these smart homes
next year, each one cost Hey the numbers. You know
what a house costs to build today, and these houses
have to be a little bit bigger, a little bit wider,
all the hallways, everything. The technology is expensive to do it.
(09:42):
So the land today is a couple of hundred thousand
dollars to buy the land. And then you know, to
build a twenty four to twenty five hundred square foot
home is you know, it's like three hundred plus dollars
a square foot. So you can do the math. You know,
it's up with its eight one hundred thousand to them
sometimes or more for each one of these homes that
we're building. So if for doing a hundred of them.
(10:03):
Need I have to do the math for you, you know,
you know, and then we have to make sure that
we stay with these great heroes and make sure that
any maintenance and stuff like that, that these homes are
being taken care of. So we do that, and then
at the same time, we're paying off all these mortgages
for gold Star widows. Now you know how many widows
there were with young children. You have to have young families,
(10:24):
and even with the training exercises today, someone of them
still are dying dozens a year, and you know, so
we and then fallen first responders, you die in the
line of duty anywhere in the country and you have
a young family left behind, We're going to pay off
your mortgage and if you don't have a home, we're
gonna we're going to buy you a home. So that's
(10:46):
one hundred more of those a year. So you know,
by the end of next year, we will have paid
off delivered over two thousand mortgage three homes over the
last twenty five years at the end of next year,
and we're very obviously we're very proud of that, but
(11:09):
there's a lot more work to be done. As I
was just talking about there's so much more, so many
more smart homes that we have to build for a
catastrophically injured service members and first responders. We do first
responders too because the end.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
But you also have a goal of ending homelessness among veterans.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, but you know, so I always you know, before
we talk about the homeless veterans, I need to always
talk about what we were first doing, which is taking
care of all these great families that sacrifice their lives
for our country or our community. Right, because I don't
know what people think that we're doing. You know that
we made a promise to eradicate homelessness amongst our veterans,
(11:49):
that we're not going to do the other work we've
been doing for all these years. No, we're always going
to do that work. It was the first part of
our mission. But you know what, these great men and
women go to serve us, serve our country, they see
horrific things. They come back, they can't assimilate back in
society for whatever reason it may be. But if they
were on the battlefield, we would never leave them on
the battlefield, right, the men and women servant, So what
(12:11):
can we leave them on the streets of America. It's unacceptable,
and we made a promise going to eradicate homelesses amongst
the veterans, and over ten thousand homeless veterans in the
last two years we have taken off the streets, put
them in their own place to live, and we don't
put them in shelters because shelters don't work. We put
them in their own house or apartment, and we get
(12:33):
them all the comprehensive services they need to get back
that they're footing to get back into society, you know,
to take care of these problems that they have to
put them on the street to begin with. So we're
very proud of the work we're doing.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
So, Frank, you've helped ten thousand homeless veterans. Do you
have a total figure of how many homeless veterans there
are in our country?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, so it's the government says there's about forty thousand,
ten thousand off the street. They say they still say
it's forty thousand, So there's a lot more than that.
My guest midst at least fifty to sixty thousand homeless veterans.
That being said, we're also stopping many of them before
(13:16):
they're chronically homeless for a year or two years, because
that's where they the US government. If you're on the
street six months or a year, you consider a homeless fed,
not for a couple of weeks or a month or whatever.
So we we find out. We have case managers all
over We work with over a thousand non for profits
around the country, and when we hear of let's just say,
(13:39):
somewhere in Oklahoma, there's a homeless veteran. I don't have
a veteran's village in Oklahoma, but we could take that
homeless veteran right off the street, get them into an apartment,
and get them all the services they need like that.
And we get these calls every single day, you know,
to our you know, we have a you know, when
(13:59):
you call, you talk to a person with someone calls
Tunnel always you talk to a person. We have a
donor services team that is that is tremendous, and we
feel it's important that people talk to people, especially these
great heroes.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And I just want to mention you know now this
is something Frank Siller has been doing as CEO and
president of Tunnel to Towers for twenty four years now,
close to twenty five years and he doesn't take a
diamond pay. And how many organizations can say that? And
(14:34):
I say that that's everything. I mean, this is what
this man has done. It all comes back to what
I kind of mentioned to begin with, about doing something
that you can control, you can contribute. You can't change
the world yourself, but one person does make a difference.
(14:56):
And I truly truly believe that. And we have very
little time left, I'm going to implore you this is
a good organization. I know so many needs your help,
but I know this one gets the help to where
it needs quickly. Honestly, I totally back Tunneled to Towers.
(15:18):
Please go to our website Q one O four to
three dot com slash tunnel to Towers. Donate whatever you can.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
You've been listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one O four point
three
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