MDG Flooring America raises $10,000 for Tunnel to Towers

MEDINA — Local business MDG Flooring America raised $10,000 to support the Tunnel to Towers Foundation at its recent golf outing. Christina Walbolt from MDG Flooring America said Michael David Green started the company 25 years ago. MDG has historically held a team golf outing at Bunker Hill Golf Course and wanted to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary. "I mentioned to our business consultant through our co-op that we were thinking of doing a big golf outing and we were looking for a nonprofit that we could raise funds for," she said. "She said, 'It's been 25 years since 9/11. Tunnel to Towers would be a perfect nonprofit to work with.'" Tunnel to Towers started because of New York City firefighter Stephen Siller. On 9/11, he was on his way to play golf when he heard something was happening at the World Trade Center. He got in his turnout gear, went through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and died that day. "About a year later, his brother was surrounded by his friends and said he wanted to honor Stephen, so they decided that they were going to do a race where people basically walked the path that he walked," Walbolt said. "It goes through the tunnel and up to the World Trade Center spot, and they do it every year in New York City." Satellite races are held across the country, including in Medina. MDG is a sponsor of this year's race, which will take place at 8 a.m. Sept. 13 around Medina Square. "It's about a roughly 3-mile race, and people walk in full firefighter gear," Walbolt said. "You are walking past all the pictures of fallen firefighters and all of the fallen first responders." MDG's golf outing on Saturday raised funds for Tunnel to Towers with more than 100 golfers participating and around 115 people at dinner, Walbolt said. "We had over 30 local businesses that were involved in one way or another," she said. "There were businesses that sponsored, and there were businesses that donated raffle items." Walbolt said the MDG team is proud it they raised $10,000 for Tunnel to Towers. The funding will go toward building smart homes for veterans and paying off the mortgage of veterans, Gold Star families and the families of first responders who were killed in the line of duty. "We want to make people aware that this is happening in our own backyard, and it's amazing to see," she said. "It's amazing to witness, and there's a lot of families out there that can benefit from this." For more information on Tunnel to Towers, visit tinyurl.com/3my33rnr. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.