Get Real’s David DesRosiers sits down with Frank Siller, Chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, to discuss the organization’s ambitious effort to end veteran homelessness and support military families across the country. Siller explains how Tunnel to Towers provides mortgage-free homes, adapted smart homes for severely injured veterans, educational support, and housing assistance for veterans in need. He shares that the foundation will help more than 27,500 homeless veterans by the end of the year and the importance of intervening before veterans become chronically homeless. Siller also reflects on the legacy of his brother, firefighter Stephen Siller, whose sacrifice on September 11 inspired the foundation’s mission. As the nation approaches the 25th anniversary of the attacks, he discusses the importance of preserving that spirit of courage, service, and sacrifice.

DAVID DESROSIERS, ‘GET REAL’ HOST: Welcome back to Get Real on Real America’s Voice. I’m David DesRosiers. In just a few weeks, our nation will pause to mark the 25th anniversary of September 11th, terrorist attacks, a day of unspeakable loss, but also a day of extraordinary courage, self-sacrifice, and the enduring American spirit. For the Siller family, that day never ended. When off-duty New York firefighter Stephen Siller heard the alarm, he was already on his way home from work. He turned around, drove back to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, strapped on 60 pounds of gear, and ran through the tunnel towards the Twin Towers to save others. His brother Frank Siller has since made sure his sacrifice would never be forgotten. Today, as chairman and CEO of Tunnels for Towers Foundation, Frank has helped provide mortgage-free homes to the families of fallen heroes, built specifically adapted for the most severely injured veterans, and is leading a national mission to end veteran homelessness. He’s also sharing that incredible journey in his new memoir, Let Us Do Good, which hits bookshelves on September 1st, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon or wherever books are sold. Welcome to Get Real. Frank, before we start, I’ve always wanted to do this. Tunnels for Towers Foundation is delivering mortgage-free homes to 1,000 Gold Star families with young children who are waiting for a home. I’d like to ask you to contribute $ 11 a month to support their efforts. How is that, Frank? FRANK SILLER, TUNNEL TO TOWERS: That was good. That was good, David. Thank you for doing that. It’s always better when somebody else is asking for $ 11 a month than me, for sure. But thank you for having me on here. You know, when I saw your opening clip and I saw President Bush on the pile there and he was standing next to my buddy, Bob Beck, he was a retired firefighter at the time and he passed away recently, it certainly brings you back to what happened that day. So thank you for having me on. DESROSIERS: And thank you for writing a book that kind of captures this recipe. I mean, one of the things I’ve always thought is that a nation shows itself by what it honors. And I think what you’ve done has given us all an opportunity to kind of show our thanks for the people who have courage that run towards problems when everybody else is running away. Could you give us a taste of your book? SILLER: Well, yes. Thank you for asking. No, so, you know, I wanted to write about my brother, of course. You know, after 25 years, when he gave his life up on September 11th, 2001, he was married and had five kids. His oldest was not even 10 and his youngest was nine months old, Stephen Jr. And I always felt from the beginning that I wanted his children to know that their dad just didn’t die, he died a hero while saving people. And so that’s why we started the foundation. Why I wrote the book is, once again, to people know the journey that we’ve had, but also know Stephen as a child. My parents died when my brother was a young boy. He was eight and a half when my father died, and a year and a half later, at 10 years old, my mom died, and he was orphaned. But he was blessed that he had six other siblings, much older than him, much older, and we did raise him. So he was very courageous throughout his whole life, who comes through something like that, that terrible thing to lose one parent is terrible, to lose both parents at such a young age is horrific. And so what does he do? He goes out, and he becomes this outrageous human being, and he makes this heroic run that will be remembered, I believe, for as long as America exists, and I pray to God that they exist forever, because what good is the whole world if there’s no America? And so I think the foundation will reflect that in his legacy throughout the rest of our days. DESROSIERS: No, and what I loved about it is that, you know, you tell this personal story, and you created, I would say, one of the greatest philanthropies of the 21st century. I mean, I think you can tell, engage the quality of a country by what they honor, and, you know, you’ve honored the honorable in a way that’s given everybody a chance at, you know, at a price point to just know that we’re doing our best by our fallen heroes. So, I mean, I think this is a recipe of not only understanding the good in your brother, but how a brother can honor his brother and bring that message to scale, and your philanthropy is just, you know, just remarkable. You know, we’re approaching the 25th anniversary of 9-11, and I think of any organization that we’ve seen out there, I think you’ve done the best to make sure that that memory is alive. You know, you should be giving a speech there. I don’t know if you are, but would you give a short one to us? SILLER: Well, I’m not good at giving speeches, but I am good at telling stories, because my brother left a lot of stories, for sure. The people I’ve met along the way for the last 25 years is the story. Just think about the millions of people that have come to join us on our mission. So, our mission is pure. Who we’re helping, as you said, the greatest of all Americans, those that won’t die for you and I. And the way we do it is by supplying mortgage-free homes for these great heroes and their families that are left behind, or a smart home if they’re catastrophically injured. And then, besides the mortgage-free homes, we’re making sure they get a free education, a college education when their kids get old enough. So, to do all those things are magnificent, but we only do it out of the kindness and generosity of so many people. I tell a lot of those stories in the book. I tell about the miracles that have happened to us over the last 25 years, how these companies come out of nowhere, how these great celebrities call tunnels and towers and say, Frank, you know, can I do a public service announcement for you? I mean, you know, starting with Mark Wahlberg and so many other peoples, when Stallone saw Wahlberg do it, he said, ah, Frank, I’d like to do one. I see Mark is doing it. And one after another, Kevin James, you know, he brings a lot of joy into doing one. That’s for sure. It made me laugh. And I tell those stories about how I met them, how committed they are to the foundation, and so are all these people. So, I do it on the backs of so many other people that have come to help us, and I tell many of those stories. One chapter is God sends me people all the time, and that’s how we get it done, through the amount of people that have joined us. They know where their money is going. And, David, I think that’s so important that people understand $ 11 a month, you know where it’s going. DESROSIERS: No, and it’s like, you know, I’ve looked you up on the Charity Navigator. I mean, not only do you do great works to make everybody feel good about knowing that they did right by the patriots that protect us under the blanket of freedom that they defend us for. You do it at a price point where it’s not going out the door. It’s building doors, you know, houses, roofs, and smart homes for people. So, for that, you need to be very congratulated. Would you do me a favor? I mean, we’re very interested. This show now is about veterans and what people are doing to help veterans because the veterans make the greatest sacrifice out there. And also the firefighters. Like, people who sign up, they swear an oath to run out there and to do dangerous things. Could you say what you’re doing to help homeless veterans? And, specifically, I mean, at the top of our hours, we had TurboVets. These folks out there are doing something that I think you should include in what you’re doing in the services that you’re offering. But please tell us what you’re doing for the homeless vets because I do think they come home and they don’t have an institution like yours that’s working for them presently. And you actually pick them up and bring them back. Thank you. SILLER: Yeah. So, you know, before we made the commitment, which we did just about three years ago, we made the commitment to, and I use the word eradicate because we don’t do anything on a small scale. If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right. And we’re going to put all our heart and all our soul into it. And all our donors and people who volunteer are the same way. And when I said that Tunnel to Towers is going to eradicate homelessness amongst our veterans, it was a very serious statement, to say the least. Now, how do we do it? It is more than just building a, you’re looking at one of our veteran villages that we built for them. The top two or three floors are permanent apartments that they have. And you’re looking right now at the first floor where we have all the services for them. So they can assimilate back into society. You know, we have professionals on site all day, every day. And we’re proud of that. But it’s more than that because, yeah, maybe I’m going to build a hundred of these villages across America, 100, 150 people in each one. So, you know, that’s maybe 15,000 homeless vets living in these villages. But there’s more that come all the time. So what we’re doing is we’re getting a lot of these homeless veterans before they’re permanently and chronically on the streets for years at a time. And we help them financially. We get them an apartment. We pay for the, you know, rent up front or the security and do all these things, get them furniture. You’re looking at furniture right now. You know, we supply them with furniture and we put them in these nice apartments where they live in a community and they’re not in a shelter somewhere, not part of anything. Do you know, David, here’s a statistic that people just don’t understand. Of the 27,500 homeless vets that we’ll have off the street by the end of this year, and it might be up to 30,000, but 27,500 for sure. 15,000 children were on the streets with them. They were married, had kids, and they’re on the street or living out of a car or whatever the circumstances, but they’re not in their own apartment. And we have those children in an apartment too. So it’s a lot more than just a homeless veteran. It’s their families in many instances. And the work we’re doing is incredible. That’s what $ 11 a month does. Could you imagine that? DESROSIERS: That’s what $ 11 a month does. I can’t imagine how many people have, you know, everybody’s heard your commercial. The people who have heard it know you’re doing good work. I mean, like we need to give this man as many $ 11 a month as we can so he can solve the problems that are out there that we don’t want to see. But it’s like, you know, sir, you’re a great American. I mean, I think we all feel better ourselves because of what you did to honor your brother. And I would say you have a book out, so let us do good, Frank Seller. You are doing great. Thank you for being here. SILLER: The name of that title is because my mom and dad were third-order Franciscans, very spiritual, very religious parents that taught their kids how to serve. And St. Francis said, while we have time, let us do good. And I say that to my children, my grandchildren. Hey, don’t waste your time. Do something positive and good every day. And what better than take care of all these great Americans? So hopefully people join us on this mission. And I can’t thank you enough for having me. DESROSIERS: Well, you’re going to be in my heart, my prayers. And everybody said on 9-11, as is your brother, you’re a great American. And I think you should be canonized someday.

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