Foundation Created in Firefighter's Honor Provides Home for Triple-Amputee Veteran
Firefighter Stephen Siller died as he tried to save lives on Sept. 11, 2001. On Tuesday, a foundation created in his honor provided a home for a veteran
Peter Garrow
A foundation created to honor a man who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack handed the keys to a new Temecula house to Cpl. Juan Dominguez, who lost three limbs in a bomb blast three years ago in Afghanistan. Raw Video
Cpl. Juan Dominguez and his family received the keys Tuesday to a new Temecula home provided by a foundation that was started in honor of a New York firefighter killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Friends and family of the FDNY's Stephen Siller started the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation. He was killed in a World Trade Center tower collapse on Sept. 11, 2001.
On Tuesday at the exact time of that tower collapse, Cpl. Dominguez -- he lost three limbs in a bomb blast two years ago in Afghanistan -- was handed the keys to his home provided by the foundation.
"Maybe this will shed more awareness about donating," said Dominguez. "We still have a lot of brothers that are coming back severly wounded. It would be a great thing to give back, and give them some of that independence."
The home, built in partnership with the Gary Sinise Foundation, is at site selected by Dominguez. It features an elevator, custom kitchen cabinets with shelves that lower and doors that operate by electronic senors run from an iPad.
"If we can jump in, do a little something for them, raise some awareness of what they're going through, and provide a home for someone whose lost three limbs -- it's the least we can do," Sinise said.
The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation was so-named because Siller, off duty at the time, ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel with about 75 pounds of gear to help save victims at the World Trade Center site on Sept. 11, 2001.
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