A 21-foot steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center wreckage toured the country, including a stop at Wings Over the Rockies Museum in Lowry. Photo courtesy of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation

As the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, an organization founded by the family of a firefighter who lost his life at the World Trade Center is working to ensure the victims and their families are not forgotten.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has been traveling the country with a 21-foot steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Center. In August, the foundation held a ceremony at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Lowry, featuring remarks from several New York City firefighters who helped with search and recovery efforts following the tragedy. After the ceremony, people lined up for a chance to see the beam up close and reflect on the events of that day.

“More than a 1,000 bodies were never recovered, so this beam has become sacred. People touch the beam and are visibly shaken,” said Joseph LaPointe, a retired lieutenant with the Fire Department of New York.

Lowry residents Carol and Richard Dietz came to the ceremony to pay their respects. As former New Yorkers, they said they would never forget the panic they felt that day trying to reach relatives who lived near the World Trade Center. “I do worry that young people don’t really know what that day was like—how devastating it was,” Carol said.

Tyler Wilson was wounded in 2005 during his military service in Afghanistan. He was recently awarded a “smart home” by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Photo by Mary Jo Brooks

Stephen Siller Jr. was just nine months old when his firefighter father ran through the Brooklyn- Battery Tunnel to reach the World Trade Center, hoping to help with the rescue effort. He was killed in the South Tower, and his body was never recovered.

Siller said the Tunnel to Towers Foundation was initially created to ensure that people would remember the sacrifices his father and so many other first responders made that day. Over the years, however, the organization’s mission has grown. Today the foundation provides housing assistance to families of first responders who are killed or severely injured in the line of duty, while also supporting military veterans.

“These are folks who have served our country. Often they have suffered physical or psychological damage from being in combat and we need to make sure we stand by them,” said Siller.

Tyler Wilson was in the audience at the Lowry ceremony. He enlisted in the military after 9/11 and was wounded in Afghanistan in 2005. He now uses a wheelchair and was recently awarded a “smart home” by the foundation. These homes are designed for accessibility, with automated doors and lights, wide doorways and showers, and counters and cabinets that automatically raise and lower.

“The house is going to be life-changing for my family, making life so much easier,” he said. “I won’t have to rely so much on caregivers, and I can give my kids some of their innocence back.”

The organization has also begun building apartment buildings for homeless veterans. Currently, these “veterans villages” operate in Houston and Atlanta. A third complex is expected to open in Denver in December.

Peter Dybing, assistant program director for the Denver Veterans Village, said the facility will provide 125 units along with a range of services, including case managers, therapists, and benefits coordinators. Veteran peers will also be on site around the clock.

“It’s about meeting veterans where they’re at and helping them find something meaningful to do,” Dybing said.

The Denver Veterans Village will be housed in a former hotel at 1680 S. Colorado Blvd.