American Legion, auxiliary, squadron donate $20,000
OCEAN CITY — “Thank you to all of you who serve this country to protect the blanket of freedom that my children and I sleep under every night,” Dena Parlo told members and guests April 9 at the Ocean City American Legion post.
Morvay-Miley-Cruice Post 524 invited the ambassador for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation to accept three checks equalling $20,000.
“I’m glad to see that you’re all here because this is what it’s really about, the family doing work here,” Post Commander Bob Marzulli said. “We are here to celebrate what the post was able to accomplish as a family for Tunnel to Towers.”
The post, which Marzulli said is the fifth-largest in the state with 437 members, presented a check to Parlo for $10,000, while the auxiliary and post squadron each gave $5,000. The total equals only half of what they are donating this year, with the other $20,000 going to eight other initiatives.
Parlo is the wife of the late senior officer Spc. Christopher Parlo, who served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps. After leaving the military, he worked for the Bureau of Prisons and died in the line of duty Aug. 16, 2017.
“Four years later, Tunnel to Towers came into our lives and paid off our mortgage,” she said, noting she has been a volunteer ambassador ever since. “A lot of times people write a check and send the donation, they don’t know where the money goes. People like myself and my children are able to stay in the home where I raised the kids with my husband.”
Parlo explained the foundation’s origins, mission and accomplishments.
The organization was founded to honor New York City firefighter Stephen Siller.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Siller, who was assigned to Brooklyn’s Squad 1, had just finished his shift and was on his way to play golf with his brothers when he was notified a plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Siller returned to Squad 1 to get his gear and drove to the entrance of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, but it had already been closed for security purposes. Siller then strapped 60 pounds of gear to his back and raced on foot through the tunnel to the Twin Towers, where he gave up his life while saving others.
Parlo said Siller’s siblings decided to start a foundation in his honor. It initially benefitted only fallen firefighters but expanded in 2017-18 to assist fallen first responders and Gold Star Families, then catastrophically wounded veterans, law enforcement officers and first responders.
“They now are trying to eradicate veteran homelessness,” she said, noting the organization started building Let Use Do Good Villages, which provide housing, medical and mental health care, career training and other services.
“They’re helping them right there, right there helping them get back on their feet and back into society,” Parlo said.
According to the foundation, it is working to find a home for every military veteran. More than 3,300 received housing and services in 2023 alone.
The foundation raises money through donations and the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk NYC, which traces Siller’s final steps on 9/11 and pays homage to the fallen. According to the organization, it has inspired nearly 80 runs, walks and climbs around the country.
Its programs include building mortgage-free smart homes for the most catastrophically injured veterans and first responders and paying off the mortgages of fallen law enforcement officers and firefighters who lose their lives in the line of duty, or to 9/11 related illness, and leave behind young children.
The Gold Star Family Home Program, launched in September 2018, honors the legacy of those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the country. The foundation provides a mortgage-free home to surviving spouses with young children.
The foundation is committed to ending veteran homelessness nationwide through its Homeless Veteran Program.
“We honor the sacrifice and dignity of the American service member by ensuring that no veteran is left out on the streets of the country they volunteered to defend,” according to the foundation.
The Tunnel to Towers 9/11 Institute is committed to assisting educators in teaching children across the country about 9/11, the fallen and the heroic sacrifices of first responders like Siller who made the ultimate sacrifice while saving others.
Parlo said 95 percent of every dollar donated goes directly to programs.
It was the third year in a row that Post 524 has donated to the foundation.
“In the last three years, the post has given $35,000 and I believe we will continue to be part of the organization,” Marzulli said.
“It’s a true blessing, a Godsend. It’s people like these who donate and allow the organization to continue to give back,” Parlo said.
– STORY and PHOTOS by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
