Tunnel to Towers pays off mortgages for 30 military families in Veterans Day tribute: 'A great sacrifice'

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation marked Veterans Day Wednesday by announcing mortgage payoffs for 30 families of fallen military heroes across the country, helping ensure their loved ones have a permanent place to call home.

The families span 22 states and represent nearly every branch of the U.S. military, according to the foundation, which provides mortgage-free homes to surviving spouses and children of service members and first responders who died in the line of duty or from service-related illnesses.

Tunnel to Towers Foundation Chairman and CEO Frank Siller shared the news Wednesday on "Fox & Friends" to discuss the mortgages, its housing program for homeless veterans in Pennsylvania and its upcoming Season of Hope initiative for firefighters' families.

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"No. 1 is that we are paying off 30 mortgages to Gold Star families that lost their loved ones for our country. Many of them are dying of burn pit cancers, just like many of our first responders are still dying from 9/11 illnesses. It's very sad," Siller said. 

"So, on a day like today, we want to make sure that America doesn't forget that there's a great sacrifice always being made for our country. We get to live in this great country. There are people out there that are still dying for us."

The Veterans Day announcement is part of a larger commitment to deliver 343 mortgage-free homes in 2026, a tribute to the 343 New York City firefighters who lost their lives during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The milestone comes as the nation commemorates the 25th anniversary of 9/11, a tragedy that inspired the foundation's creation and its ongoing mission to support military families and first responders.

"So, we made a promise this year for the 25th anniversary that we're going to deliver 343 mortgage-free homes this year, one for every firefighter who died on 9/11. That's almost a house a day," Siller said. 

"From Thanksgiving to the Christmas is the remainder of those homes, over 60 homes that we'll be delivering, and it hit our 343 mark for the 25th anniversary."

Among those whose families were recognized Wednesday were Army Lt. Col. David Briseno of Grand Prairie, Texas; Marine Corps Master Sgt. Khanh Tuan "Shane" Nguyen of Annapolis, Maryland; Army Sgt. Brandon Minneman of Olympia, Washington; and Navy Chief Petty Officer Ernest Lopez Jr. of Oakdale, California.

Other recipients included families in New York, Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois, Massachusetts and several more states.

Through its Gold Star Family Home Program, the foundation seeks to ease the financial burden on families coping with the loss of a loved one who served the country.

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The program provides mortgage-free homes to eligible surviving spouses with young children, offering long-term housing stability following the death of a parent.

In addition to the mortgage payoffs, Tunnel to Towers celebrated the grand opening of its Harrisburg Veterans Village in Pennsylvania on Veterans Day, expanding its efforts to combat homelessness among former service members. The new development sits on the former Phoenix Mill property, where construction began in April 2025.

The foundation transformed the waterfront site on the Susquehanna River into a residential community featuring a 61-unit apartment complex and 20 one-bedroom comfort homes. The development is designed to house more than 80 veterans in need of permanent housing while providing access to services intended to help residents rebuild their lives.

Those services include job training, assistance obtaining veterans benefits, mental health support and addiction treatment.

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"I said, 'Hey, think about somebody who's overseas protecting us, right, and the guy next to him gets blown up, and it happens over and over again. They come back here to the states, and they're not all part of the military anymore. Now they have to assimilate back into society.’ A lot of them have real problems doing that, and they end up on the streets. It's not acceptable," Siller said.

"A couple of years ago, we, Tunnel for Towers, we made a promise we're going to eradicate homelessness amongst our veterans. In the last three years, we've taken 27,500 homeless veterans off the streets.

"We build these beautiful hotels, and then we remodel them into apartments for these permanent apartments for the older homeless veterans, and we put comfort homes on these properties. They're 500-square-foot houses, and they have their own homes."

The foundation said its approach goes beyond providing shelter by addressing the emotional, financial and medical challenges that can contribute to homelessness among veterans.

Tunnel to Towers launched its Homeless Veteran Program in 2022 with the goal of ensuring that veterans who served their country do not have to live on its streets.

Since the program began, the organization says it has provided housing assistance and supportive services to more than 20,000 veterans and 10,000 children.

The Harrisburg location joins Veterans Villages already operating in Memphis, Tennessee; North Charleston, South Carolina; Houston, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia.

The foundation also supports affiliated veteran housing programs in Riverside and West Los Angeles, California, and Austin, Texas.

Another Veterans Village is scheduled to open Dec. 9 in Denver, Colorado, while seven additional developments are under construction and expected to open in 2027.