Frank Siller & Tunnel to Towers: Prayer Needed

You will have seen the ads for Tunnel to Towers, the charitable organization that provides mortgage-free homes for the families of cops, firemen, and active-duty military who have died or been damaged in service to their fellow Americans. The ads are small, gem-cut stories, movingly told. The celebrity endorsers — Mark Wahlberg, Cole Hauser, and Andy Pettitte — are smack-dab in the middle of the target demographic. And Frank Siller, the founder and CEO, makes for an authentic and powerful advocate for his righteous cause. Tunnel to Towers has become a lambent example of our civil society working just as Mr. Tocqueville had imagined it might: spontaneously bonded groups of citizens seeing a need, and then, after gathering private resources, delivering essential services to their fellow citizens, all of it government-involvement-free.

The Tunnel to Towers campaign is working. Like a charm. We know that not because of timely financial reports. Tunnel to Towers, in the manner of most charitable organizations — 501(c)3 organizations, in IRS terminology — files only a skimpy 990 tax form that is usually late and always minimally informative. We know that the Tunnel to Towers campaign is working because consumer-response ads disappear from national media the minute consumers stop responding to them. Over the past year, Frank Siller has become an omnipresence in right-leaning media. QED, Tunnel to Towers is working and, in large part, thanks to Frank Siller.

About the Author

Neal B. Freeman

Neal B. Freeman, businessman and journalist, was a director of National Review Inc. for 38 years.

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You will have seen the ads for Tunnel to Towers, the charitable organization that provides mortgage-free homes for the families of cops, firemen, and active-duty military who have died or been damaged in service to their fellow Americans. The ads are small, gem-cut stories, movingly told. The celebrity endorsers — Mark Wahlberg, Cole Hauser, and Andy Pettitte — are smack-dab in the middle of the target demographic. And Frank Siller, the founder and CEO, makes for an authentic and powerful advocate for his righteous cause. Tunnel to Towers has become a lambent example of our civil society working just as Mr. Tocqueville had imagined it might: spontaneously bonded groups of citizens seeing a need, and then, after gathering private resources, delivering essential services to their fellow citizens, all of it government-involvement-free.

The Tunnel to Towers campaign is working. Like a charm. We know that not because of timely financial reports. Tunnel to Towers, in the manner of most charitable organizations — 501(c)3 organizations, in IRS terminology — files only a skimpy 990 tax form that is usually late and always minimally informative. We know that the Tunnel to Towers campaign is working because consumer-response ads disappear from national media the minute consumers stop responding to them. Over the past year, Frank Siller has become an omnipresence in right-leaning media. QED, Tunnel to Towers is working and, in large part, thanks to Frank Siller.