Annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk Pays Tribute to First Responders Killed in New York City on September 11

Palm Coast hosted the annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk on Saturday, February 3 from 8 am to 11 am at Town Center. Several participants gathered to run and walk in the event. Volunteers and spectators also gathered to work the event and cheer on the participants.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation was formed in 2001 by Frank Siller, brother of Stephen Siller, who was among the 343 first responders killed in New York City on the morning of September 11, 2001. Stephen, a Brooklyn firefighter, had just gotten of his shift that morning when he heard the news of what was happening at the World Trade Center. He quickly grabbed his bunker gear and headed towards the Twin Towers to help, only to find himself stuck in traffic at Brooklyn’s Battery Tunnel. He then abandoned his truck and rank in full bunker gear from the tunnel to the World Trade Center where he would lose his life while saving others – hence the name Tunnel to Towers.

Since its inception just weeks 9/11, the organization has been committed to helping families of fallen veterans and first responders, as well as catastrophically injured service members by providing mortgage-free homes and has raised over $250 million to date. In December of 2021, the Tunnel to Towers broke ground on the “Let Us Do Good” village, a first-of-its-kind neighborhood in Land O’ Lakes, FL which features “smart homes” that are tailored to serve the needs of injured veterans with special features that assist in helping them to have normal functionality and mobility in their home, despite their injuries.