Saturday morning, at the Augusta University Summerville campus, students, soldiers, firefighters and runners gathered at the Douglas Bernard Amphitheater to commemorate responders at 9/11.
The Tunnel to Towers 5K Run, in which volunteers race through a track lined with markers throughout the campus, kicked off at 8 a.m. alongside the amphitheater. The run is a nationwide event, organized by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
On Sept. 11, 2001, off-duty Brooklyn firefighter Stephen Siller, upon hearing the news about the attack on the North Tower of the World Trade Center, strapped on his 60 pounds of gear and ran on foot through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel toward the Twin Towers to help those in peril. Siller never made it back out.
His brother, Frank Siller, launched the foundation in his memory to raise funds for wounded veterans and first responders, and to facilitate education about the significance of 9/11.
“The organization started with doing smart homes for wounded warriors and catastrophically injured individuals,” said Cornelia Ryan, who with her husband, John Ryan, started the Augusta chapter of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation in 2016. “And from there, it’s just grown.”
This year marked AU’s sixth year hosting the Tunnel to Towers Greater Augusta 5K run, coordinated in collaboration with the Augusta and Grovetown fire departments, the military, the university and several sponsors.
“It’s because of all of those people in those groups — fire department, the law enforcement officers, the the marshal’s office, the Army, the Army ROTC, the Junior ROTC from Laney Walker High School,” said John Ryan on how the Augusta chapter manages to synchronize so many agencies to make the run happen. “They call us every year and say, ‘Hey, you’re doing it again this year? We definitely want to be involved.’”
The event began with a commemorative ceremony, emceed by Michael Siewert. The Augusta Fire Department, as the ceremony closed and the race began, toned bells at 8:46 and 9:03 a.m., the times the towers were hit.
Firefighters and servicemembers were among the volunteers who participated in the race, which is not only a fundraiser, Cornelia Ryan said, but a way to remind younger people about 9/11.
“A lot of us remember where we were on that day, but some of the kids don’t have that connection,” she said, noting also the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s new curriculum, arranged by grade levels, to help parents and teachers educate children about the day.
A major component of the 5K run at AU is the “vendor village,” now in its third year, in which several organizations set up booths to offer visitors various resources. The Augusta Vet Center, the Veterans Curation Program, VA Caregiver Support and, this year, Walton Options, were among the agencies and sponsors at the event.
“We want to grow this so that when families, especially veteran families are here, that they’re able to connect with resources,” said Stefane Raulerson, director of Military and Veteran Services at Augusta University. “For there to be a sense of community that we can all remember we can all participate in, though that it’s not just veterans, supporting veterans or firefighters, supporting firefighters or first responders supporting first responders.”
The morning run was met with an award ceremony at 10 a.m., at which John Ryan expressed gratitude to sponsors, organizers and participants.
“It’s about giving the people an opportunity through our service to honor those that lost their lives and remember what it was like on that Tuesday morning,” said John Ryan. “And the next day when everybody had that spirit of collaboration and friendship and love.”
For more information on the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, visit https://t2t.org/
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
