ORLANDO, Fla. — Three Central Florida families who lost loved ones connected to military service are receiving mortgage-free homes through the Tunnel to Towers Foundation as part of this year’s observance of Gold Star Spouses Day.
The organization announced it paid off mortgages for families in Orlando, Melbourne and New Smyrna Beach, honoring the surviving spouses of service members who died from service-related conditions.
Among the families recognized is that of Carlos Baez, a Marine Corps sergeant who enlisted shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks and later worked for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Baez died in October 2024 after battling service-connected cancer, leaving behind his wife, Yahaida, and their four children. The foundation paid off the mortgage on the family’s Orlando home.
The organization also paid off the mortgage for the family of Shawn Mette, an Air Force technical sergeant whose family lives in Melbourne.
Mette served in the Air Force beginning in 1992 and later developed service-connected stomach cancer. He died in 2010, leaving behind his wife, Nelia, and two children.
In New Smyrna Beach, the foundation paid off the mortgage for the family of August Alombro Jr., an Army first sergeant who completed six deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Alombro retired in 2022 and died in January 2025 from a service-connected heart attack, leaving behind his wife, Alison, and two children.
Tunnel to Towers said the effort is part of its Gold Star Family Home Program, which provides mortgage-free homes to surviving spouses with young children after the loss of a service member.
The nonprofit said it has delivered more than 1,700 mortgage-free homes nationwide and committed more than $1 billion across its programs supporting military families, veterans and first responders.
The foundation was created in honor of Stephen Siller, a firefighter killed during the September 11 attacks.
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