The Tunnel to Towers Foundation Delivers Mortgage-Free Smart Home to Injured Oklahoma Air Force Veteran
Air Force Senior Airman Ted “TJ” Williams Jr. was injured in 2012
MUSTANG, OKLAHOMA [February 10, 2025] — In a private ceremony with his family, United States Air Force Senior Airman Ted “TJ” Williams Jr.’s son cut a ceremonial ribbon outside his family’s new mortgage-free smart home in Mustang, Oklahoma.
Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s Smart Home Program builds specially adapted, mortgage-free smart homes that help our most catastrophically injured veterans and first responders reclaim their independence.
“I’m just so thankful to have a home that I can function in…It takes a burden off my wife, a burden off my boys, I know it’s going to be hard for them to see me struggle throughout life, this is going to limit that…and help me a better father to them,” said SrA Williams.
In 2010, SrA Williams enlisted in the Air Force to serve his country and further his education. On November 29, 2012, SrA Williams was on duty with his security forces team patrolling a nuclear weapons silo in Montana. The Humvee he was traveling in wrecked and rolled over, leaving SrA Williams in a medically induced coma with a broken C4-C6 vertebrae in his neck, resulting in quadriplegia with no function from the chest down.
“I thought this was just a dream in the beginning. I had a buddy in a group I FaceTime with that’s made up of spinal cord injury veterans throughout the country. He said ‘Dude, fill out the application…send it in. I had the same feelings you did, my injury wasn’t good enough, I don’t deserve special treatment, a mortgage-free home, a smart home.’ Hearing that from one of my fellow veterans, I put in my application.” said SrA Williams, “I got a phone call from New York a month later. It was Tunnel to Towers, saying congratulations on your mortgage-free smart home and thank you and your family for your sacrifice.”
SrA Williams’ smart home features wider walkways and keyless motorized doors that open and close automatically. The home is designed with zero thresholds, wider doors and hallways, and a large master bedroom and bathroom, so SrA Williams can easily access every room in the home and navigate from one end of the home to the other in his wheelchair without encountering any obstacles. The homes’ lights, temperature, security, and sound system can be controlled remotely via a smartphone app or touch screens throughout the house.
During the ceremony, the home builder, Homes by Taber, donated $25,000 to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation to help continue its mission to provide forever homes for America’s heroes and their families.
Visit T2T.org for more information and to support our mission of building homes for America’s heroes. You can also join us in making a difference by donating just $11 per month.
Media Contacts:
- Trevor Tamsen – Trevor.Tamsen@t2t.org
- Monica Allen – Monica.Allen@T2T.org
About the Tunnel to Towers Foundation
Born from the tragedy of 9/11, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation carries out its mission to “do good” by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and building specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. Tunnel to Towers is also committed to eradicating veteran homelessness and helping America Never Forget September 11, 2001.
Visit T2T.org to learn more, and follow Tunnel to Towers on Facebook, X, and Instagram.