When the families of first responders and veterans need a lifeline, Tunnels to Towers steps in
At Robert Kirsopp's home in Hampton township, his wife, Rosalyn, gives him all the credit.
"95% of this house is him," she said.
It's a 1960s house they bought as a fixer-upper. From the lounging space to the kitchen walls, Robert left his mark.
"He cuts walls, he does base boards, he puts on additions, along with his police job," Rosalyn explained.
In his police job, Robert served twenty-five years with the Hampton Township Police Department, retired as a sergeant. Before that, and straight out of high school, Robert served overseas in the Army.
His life's work was a labor of love.
"(Robert was) dedicated," Rosalyn said. "Dedicated to service, the house, and his family."
He now leaves it all to his family. Robert Kirsopp beat stage four colorectal cancer after diagnosis, in 2019, "and then it came back, and it came back with force," said Rosalyn.
Colorectal cancer took his life on May 1, 2024.
"I was mostly thinking about their future and how I was going to be able to provide for them," She said. "He just wanted us to be ok."
By us, she's referring to Robert and Rosalyn's three kids, who are college and high school-aged.
Now, the non-profit Tunnel to Towers is taking some of that mental load off the family's shoulders. Tunnel to Towers paid the Kirsopp's mortgage. As a non-profit, it's helping American heroes, since 9/11, by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with children.
"Like I said, it was one of disbelief," Rosalyn said. "With the mortgage being paid off, that puts a little bit more ease to it."
The Kirsopps are just one of the 200 families nationwide who had their mortgage paid off this year. Now all she feels is gratitude.
"They are just so giving and but on the same end, I'm like you, thank you, they're like no thank you," she said.
It's a feeling of gratitude for keeping the model police car, Mario Lemieux jersey, and all the memorabilia under the same roof, where Sergeant Kirsopp took his last breath. Also, gratitude for Tunnel to Towers helping a family stay in a house that a warrior made a home.
Tunnel to Towers also provides specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured first responders and veterans.
You can apply to this nonprofit online. For more information on Tunnel to Towers, click here.
You can also join in the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run and Walk in Pittsburgh. It's coming up on September 13th at 8:00 AM.
To sign up for that event, head to this link.
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