{"id":29660,"date":"2025-11-01T22:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T22:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/29660\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T22:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T22:29:13","slug":"hundreds-climb-41-stories-in-tampa-to-honor-9-11-heroes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/29660\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds climb 41 stories in Tampa to honor 9\/11 heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brief<\/p>\n

The Tunnel to Towers Stair Climb honors the first responders who raced up the Twin Towers on 9\/11.<\/p>\n

Dozens of local first responders took on the 41-story climb in full gear.<\/p>\n

The event raises money for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which supports families of fallen heroes and veterans.<\/p>\n

TAMPA – In downtown Tampa<\/a>, hundreds of people took on a 41-story climb \u2014 each step a tribute to the firefighters, police officers, and first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11th.<\/p>\n

Many participants wore tags with the names of fallen heroes. Local firefighters, including District Chief Kyle Miller\u00a0of Tarpon Springs Fire Rescue, climbed in full gear to honor the 343 firefighters who lost their lives that day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What they’re saying<\/p>\n

“It just means a lot to be able to participate in these events \u2014 especially with the people I work with and serve the community with,” Miller said.<\/p>\n

The backstory<\/p>\n

The event is part of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, created in memory of FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in full gear on 9\/11 to reach the Twin Towers \u2014 and never made it home.<\/p>\n

“His siblings created the Tunnel to Towers Foundation in his memory,” said Dustin Miller, the event\u2019s director. “They\u2019re paying off Gold Star families\u2019 mortgages and building tiny homes for homeless veterans. Across the country they\u2019re making a huge impact.”<\/p>\n

READ: Seasoned Sarasota officers recall protecting the president on September 11, 2001<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Also in attendance was retired NYPD officer Daniel Rodriguez, known as the “Singing Policeman.” A 9\/11 survivor, Rodriguez performed the National Anthem to open the event.<\/p>\n

“To watch these people come out dedicated to keeping the memories of those who perished alive, of never forgetting \u2014 I feel very proud to be here and to use my gift once again,” Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

Among the many emotional stories was that of Jarshekia Kowaleskia, who made the climb with her young child strapped to her back.<\/p>\n

“I was thinking, should I be doing this? But then I see those photos of the heroes, and I\u2019m like \u2014 this is nothing, especially when they gave everything,” she said.<\/p>\n

FOX 13\u2019s own team joined the climb, taking each step to honor those who gave everything that morning \u2014 and to help keep their legacy alive.<\/p>\n

READ: Tampa Bay 24\/7: Inside Manatee County\u2019s 911 center<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s next<\/p>\n

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation\u00a0continues to expand its mission nationwide \u2014 building mortgage-free homes for fallen first responders, Gold Star families, and catastrophically injured veterans.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You can learn more or make a donation at Tunnel2Towers.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Source<\/p>\n

Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Regina Gonzalez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief The Tunnel to Towers Stair Climb honors the first responders who raced up the Twin Towers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[21678,21676,21675,21679,135,137,136,21674,21677],"class_list":["post-29660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-daniel-rodriguez","tag-district-chief-kyle-miller","tag-dustin-miller","tag-homeless-veterans","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tunnel-to-towers","tag-twin-towers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}