30K runners retrace 9/11 hero’s path in NYC Tunnel to Towers race, raising millions for vets, families of fallen first responders

Thousands of runners retraced a fallen New York City firefighter’s desperate race to the twin towers Sunday to honor the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks – and raise over $1 million for survivors and their families. 

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s 5K Run & Walk brought 30,000 runners to trace the footsteps of fallen FDNY hero Stephen Siller, who raced to the World Trade Center towers from Red Hook through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel on Sept. 11, 2001.

Proceeds from the race help the 24-year-old foundation provide free homes to fallen first responders’ families with young children and build “smart homes” for injured veterans.

The foundation has also paid off the mortgages of dozens of families who lost a parent in the line of duty.

“This event is the cornerstone of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation: It’s how we honored the life of my brother Stephen in 2002, and it remains a moving tribute to all of those lost on 9/11 24 years later,” said Frank Siller, Chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. 

“Each year, people from around the country and the world come to New York to help us fulfill our mission to NEVER FORGET,” Siller said, with a rep confirming over 50 French firefighters came to support the effort this year.

Though fundraising is slated to continue for a few more weeks, the foundation has already topped well over $2.4 million from corporate and individual fundraisers, according to its website. 

Keegan Muldowney, a police officer from Potsdam, NY helped his team — the Muldowney Moondogs — raise a record-breaking $135,000 this year in honor of his cousin Ritchie “Moondog” Muldowney.

The fallen FDNY firefighter was assigned to Ladder 7 in Manhattan when he died in the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The good that Frank Siller and the Siller family does for catastrophically wounded veterans and the families of fallen first responders … is such a powerful message to send to Americans that everybody we talk to wants to help,” Muldowney said. 

“There’s no selling, there’s no pitching. Everybody that we talked to wants to contribute to the good that the Tunnel to Towers Foundation is doing.”

The Muldowney family, which has been raising funds for the foundation “since the beginning,” has been ramping up efforts recently to spread the word year-round, the police officer said, including hosting events in Florida, Long Island and the Adirondack Mountains.

It’s the non-stop effort that Muldowney attributed to ricocheting his team’s fundraising from $45,000 last year to six figures for the first time. 

Muldowney noted he was inspired to raise money in his kids’ names this year because “[educating] the next generation on the sacrifices that were given before us is as important as anything else that we’re doing right now.

“The true meaning of ‘Never forget,’ which is the mission of the Stiller family, is that the next generation needs to be educated, and also never forget.”