Mike Masters

Mike Masters is a retired Army psychologist with over 50 years of counseling experience. He began volunteering with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation in 2019 by offering his professional tele-counseling services to Gold Star and Fallen First Responder widows and their families who are grappling with grief and stress. Mike shared that he felt a heavenly calling to offer his counseling services to our home recipients after watching one of Tunnel to Towers’ PSAs that featured our Gold Star home recipient Jennie Taylor. Mike Masters had served in the Utah National Guard with her hero husband fallen U.S. Army Major Brent Taylor who was killed on November 3, 2018 during his fourth deployment to Afghanistan in an apparent insider attack.

Recently, Mike has expanded his role to becoming an Ambassador for Tunnel to Towers. “I am amazed at the incredible generosity and loving spirit of the patriotic supporters I have met already,” said Mike. “It is my sincere, deepest honor to serve God and Country–– especially as the actual “old soldier” who refuses to fade away!” His service as a Tunnel to Towers volunteer Speaker Ambassador has helped spread awareness extensively across the country regarding information about our programs, the life-changing impact that Tunnel to Towers has had on our recipient families and our mission to do good so that we #neverforget.

Mike’s service to Tunnel to Towers in providing counseling and emotional support to our In the Line of Duty Program home recipient families has undoubtedly saved lives just as he has done in his military career. His intuition, compassion and speaking presence are immeasurable.

Mike inspires us with his generosity of heart and endless faith-led service to Tunnel to Towers, and we are in awe of all that he does for all those around him. He is an active member of his community and is a part of the Honor Guard where he resides, while also volunteering his time with Meals on Wheels to serve those in need in his area. Mike is an example to us all.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation would like to thank Mike Masters for helping keep the promise America made 21 years ago to Never Forget, while supporting us in our mission to provide mortgage-free homes and loving support to catastrophically injured veterans, Gold Star families and families of Fallen First Responders.

Michelle Chernyavsky

Michelle Chernyavsky is a high school student and avid volunteer with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation— the preeminent 9/11 charity organization that was founded from the tragedy of that day to honor the sacrifice of the Fire Department of New York City (FDNY) Firefighter Stephen Siller, who gave his life while saving others on 9/11.

Michelle has been a volunteer with Tunnel to Towers since March 2021 with the In the Line of Duty Program when she was just 13 years old, learning about the Foundation through her family. The In the Line of Duty Program consists of the Smart Home program, the Fallen First Responder Program, and the Gold Star Program. After learning about our mission, she wanted to make a positive impact in the lives of the people that we help.

The In the Line of Duty Program administrators communicate directly with Tunnel to Towers’ home recipients, and Michelle displays sincere care and compassion for each of our program participants. Some of Michelle’s tasks include writing handwritten birthday cards, holiday cards, Line of Duty Death anniversary cards, and packaging personalized gifts to our home recipients. She takes careful care and consideration into each handwritten note that is sent out to them.

Michelle initially volunteered to fulfill the required community service hours for her school, and though she had been offered other opportunities to volunteer she chose Tunnel to Towers above all other opportunities. Michelle wanted to join in on our mission to do good and help the families with young children of America’s heroes and also help our nation’s most catastrophically injured veterans. Although she fulfilled her required community service hours for the school year in June 2021, she continued to volunteer at Tunnel to Towers twice a week through the summer months and has far exceeded the required amount of community service hours for this school year. Michelle has completed over 200 hours volunteering with the Foundation.

Michelle recognizes the value in every task that she undertakes, and she takes her volunteer role very seriously at Tunnel to Towers. She has been dubbed the “Volunteer of the Year” for the In the Line of Duty team; Michelle is an asset to the home recipient program administrators, putting her heart into her work while bringing a positive attitude each and every day that she comes in.