Veteran's Union Beach home had fatal Sandy flaws. This 9/11 charity fixed it for free

UNION BEACH - Ben Webb thought he was buying his dream home. After serving four tours in the Marine Corps, seeing combat in both Iran and Afghanistan and suffering severe shrapnel wounds and multiple concussions, he purchased a three-bedroom split-level house for $295,000 in Union Beach in 2019.

Turns out, it was a nightmare.

Situated just behind Chingarora Creek off Raritan Bay, the house had sustained foundational damage during Superstorm Sandy, which struck the Shore on Oct. 29, 2012. Webb was aware that “the house had sunk a little bit” prior to purchasing it, but he had read engineering reports that interpreted the situation as stable, so he was stunned after he moved in and “it sank almost 6 inches in first year I lived there.”

He paid a contractor $50,000 to address the issue and, in a version of a scene that repeated so many times in Sandy’s long wake, the contractor bungled the job, leaving the foundation cracked, misaligned and ultimately condemned.

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“It was supposed to be my retirement home,” Webb said. “Everything I had saved went into that home, just to see it destroyed.”

All could have been lost, but he connected with Col. James Sfayer and Kathy Cunningham, a Monmouth County couple deeply involved with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which builds mortgage-free “smart homes” for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.

Now Webb has a custom-designed new home on the same lot.

“If it wasn’t for Tunnel to Towers rebuilding my home, I don’t know what I would have done,” Webb said. “For them to give me that hope back, it gives me a sense that everything I’ve sacrificed was not for nothing.”

As another Sandy anniversary arrives, Webb’s story is a reminder of just how much the storm’s impact continues to reverberate — and all the good done for folks who, one way or another, felt its wrath.

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'It was in dire shape'

Webb hails from Vermont, and he had just enlisted in the Marines prior to Sept. 11, 2001. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center galvanized his decision to join the infantry as a machine gunner. He would rise to the rank of staff sergeant and earn three Purple Heart medals after having been badly injured by improvised explosive devices. Shrapnel in his right leg causes him, at age 43, to walk with a cane. He also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss and is being treated for blood cancer caused by exposure to military burn pits.

“With everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Webb said.

His conviction matches that of Tunnel to Towers’ inspiration, Stephen Siller, a New York City firefighter who famously raced on foot through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel with 60 pounds of gear strapped to his back on 9/11 to respond to the devastation at the twin towers. He died at the scene, and his brother Frank Siller launched Tunnel to Towers in his honor.

Cunningham, a Spring Lake Heights resident whose brother Donald Robertson of Rumson died in the North Tower on 9/11, sits on the Tunnel to Towers board and has raised nearly $2 million for smart homes in her brother’s name. A marker dedicating Webb’s new home to Robertson is on the front lawn.

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“It was an honor to be part of that with Ben when he is so humble and grateful,” Cunningham said. “Anyone who does four tours of duty and comes back with three Purple Hearts, he’s a special young man.”

Cunningham said this was the first Tunnel to Towers project she was involved in that required a tear-down before building.

“You could see where the house separated,” she said. “It was in dire shape.”

'A family away from my own'

Smart homes cost about $500,000 to build and are tailored toward a resident’s needs. In Webb’s case, that includes an extensive security system, automatic doors, automatic toilets, a voice-responsive audio system and the ability to control things like lights and the thermostat from his cellphone.

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“For me, a lot of times it’s hard to go up and down stairs, it’s hard to open doors,” he explained. “I can hit a button on my phone and doors will open for me. It makes life so much easier.”

So does the knowledge that he’s got a support network to lean on.

“What Tunnel to Towers does is absolutely incredible — through a tragedy, it’s become a miracle,” Webb said. “It’s a family away from my own.”

The foundation gifted him a small replica of the twin towers made of steel from the 9/11 wreckage. It’s displayed on a table just beyond the front door.

“Sometimes I look around thinking, ‘Is this really my home?’” Webb said. “It is.”

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Vet's Union Beach Sandy-damaged home fixed for free by 9/11 charity