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Gold Star widow receives mortgage-free home

The Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation provides funding and homes to families of first responders and injured military service members.

Macon — Sarah Schaaff's children, Willow and Guinevere, can rest easy in their own beds on Tuesday night for the first time in Barnesville.

The family will be sleeping in a home given to them mortgage free by a 9-11 related charity, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

"It is absolutely amazing everything they’ve done," Schaaff said. "It is great to not have to pay a mortgage on anything, not have to renovate anything to just have a place where the girls can grow up."

Schaaff is a Gold Star widow. She lost her husband, Marine Corporal Collin Schaaff, in 2017 after his military plane crashed over Mississippi. Now she'll have a home to honor his memory.

"We want to restore your dreams, your hopes, your wishes for you and your family because of your husband’s sacrifice," said foundation CEO Frank Siller.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation provides funding and homes to families of first responders and injured military service members. Since their creation, they have given over $7 million in funding and designed and built 75 homes.

One of those homes now belongs to Schaaff and her daughters.

"Georgia is our home and now I have a forever home where me and the girls can stay forever and have our memories with Collin here as well," Schaaff said.

The Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation honors the memory of Stephen Siller, a firefighter who rushed into danger and died during the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001.

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