A benefit was held over Memorial Day weekend to honor those who have served in the U.S. armed forces and to help the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
The May 28 event featured a presentation of the colors by the Color Guard from Zephyrhills High School’s U.S.Army JROTC.
There were musical acts, vendors, special guests and activities.
Kevin Wright and Chandler Entertainment LLC organized the event, which served as a fundraiser for the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
During the benefit, U.S.Army veteran Staff Sgt. Steven Daily thanked Corsos for Heroes, as he received a dog named Six from the organization that provides service dogs for disabled veterans and first responders in need. Daily served in Afghanistan and Iraq and sustained injuries during his military service.
Tunnel to Towers is building the Let Us Do Good Village, off Parkway Boulevard, about one- half-mile east of Ehren Cutoff, in Land O’ Lakes.
The subdivision of more than 100 homes is planned on 75 acres donated by the Esther and Harold Mertz Foundation to the Stephen Siller Tunnel toTowers Foundation.
The Tunnel to Towers Let Us Do Good Village will be the first of its kind community of mort- gage-free homes for the nation’s fallen first responder families, Gold Star families and catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.
Ground for the village broke back in December, with the first of 110 houses estimated to be completed and given to a veteran by December.
The neighborhood also will feature amenities, including an indoor basketball court, pool, tennis court, an ADA-accessible gym, a theater, an outdoor playground, a game room and more.
The foundation is named after Stephen Siller, a New York City firefighter who had finished his shift and was on his way home when the Sept. 11 attacks occurred at the Twin Towers.
With 60 pounds of gear strapped to his back, he raced by foot through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the Twin Towers, where he was one of 343 firefighters who perished that day.
He left behind five young children.
In another local story related to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the Wesley Chapel home of fallen U.S.Army Sgt. First Class Benjamin Bitner, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011, was paid off by the foundation, according to a news release from the organization.
In observance of Memorial Day, the foundation paid off the mortgage on the homes of 21 Gold Star families in 16 states across the country.
Bitner left behind his wife,April, and two children, Rogue and Gunnar.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has set a goal to reach 1,000 mortgage-free homes delivered across the country to our nation’s military and first responders, by the end of the year, the release says.
Published on June 8, 2022.
