COLORADO, USA — Two bereaved Colorado Springs-area families will receive the gift of a fully paid mortgage, thanks to the efforts of a national organization dedicated to supporting the families of fallen service members and first responders.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit, is observing Memorial Day by gifting mortgage-free homes or mortgage payoffs to 30 families of fallen service members or first-responders with prior military service across the U.S., including the families of Micah Walker and Julian Becerra.
“We can’t give them back their loved ones. That’s impossible,” said John Huvane, Tunnel to Towers’ engagement coordinator. “So what we try to do is take their biggest financial burden, and we pay that off for them. It’s bad enough to have to grow up without a parent, or face the future without your spouse. But having to move out of your house because you can’t pay your mortgage makes it so much worse.”
Initially a grassroots effort launched in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Tunnel to Towers has grown exponentially in the 22 years since its inception and has provided about 1,000 homes to families across the country, officials said.
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The nonprofit also supports service members who have survived catastrophic line-of-duty injuries, including local wounded warrior Israel Del Toro, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant who was badly injured in an explosion while deployed to Afghanistan in 2005. Tunnel to Towers provided Del Toro and his family with a fully equipped and furnished “smart home” in October.
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