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SHANKSVILLE, Pa. -- Two Augusts ago, I joined Frank Siller a few miles from his quest to reach this Somerset County borough as part of his 537-mile tribute walk to all those lost in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The walk started in Washington, D.C., and would end at Ground Zero in New York just in time for the 20th anniversary of the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center.
Siller lost his brother Stephen that day, a fireman who had just finished his shift at Brooklyn's Squad 1 when he learned a plane had hit one of the towers at the World Trade Center. The younger Siller strapped 60 pounds of gear on his back and ran through a closed Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, where he gave his life trying to save others.
Overcome with grief over the loss of his brother and looking for purpose to honor his sacrifice, Frank Siller explained on that walk that within pretty short order he started a foundation, eventually known as Tunnel to Towers, to honor what Stephen and others did that day.
Siller says today it was on that walk near Shanksville that he was inspired by the people he talked to about this growing problem of homeless veterans. "It wasn't just hearing about it; it was the jolt of seeing them in person and talking to homeless veterans myself along my walk from D.C. to New York City that I knew it was time for Tunnel to Towers to now expand their mission to helping them."
Up until that point, Siller explained, the mission of Tunnel to Towers was paying the mortgages of fallen first responders' families "and building housing for critically injured veterans."
By the time the last ceremony was finished on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Siller said he knew he wasn't doing enough.
"So I went to the board of the foundation and told them we have to expand our purpose after what I have seen in this country; our mission must include eradicating homelessness among our veterans. … And we have to do it all across the country."
Siller said the nonprofit organization's goal was to work as much as it could with the Department of Veterans Affairs to build communities to house veterans: "Our goal is to leave no veteran behind."
Last year in Los Angeles, Tunnel to Towers teamed with LA-based U.S. VETS, a nationwide veterans housing and services provider, for a grant that filled a multimillion-dollar gap in the financing for the construction of nearly 2,000 units of housing for homeless veterans. It was a redevelopment project that languished for years but now is expedited, thanks to Siller's newfound purpose.
Last week Siller celebrated the opening of Tunnel to Towers Houston Veterans Village, which will house and service more than 100 veterans.
"We will make sure they have access to mental health support, job training, employment assistance, and education assistance so they find that renewed purpose in their lives. They don't want a handout," Siller said.