Teen Bakes Cookies To Raise Funds for Tunnel to Towers Foundation

When Julia Stabile isn’t working at Sportime in East Quogue or acing her classes at Westhampton Beach High School, you can find her baking homemade chocolate chip cookies … for a good cause. This summer, Stabile raised $2,100 for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit born out of the tragedy of 9/11 that now supports first responders, military veterans and their families.

“I decided to do this because I wanted to support our military and first responders as well as their families. I wanted to give back because they do so much for our country,” Stabile said this week, before delivering a check to the organization on Saturday, September 9, at the Hamptons Fruit and Vegetable farm stand on Montauk Highway in East Quogue.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s mission is to honor firefighter Stephen Siller who sacrificed his life during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Created in his honor and as Siller’s legacy, the foundation honors military veterans and first responders who continue to make the supreme sacrifice of life and limb for the United States of America. The nonprofit is known for providing housing assistance and services to veterans who are homeless across America. The name Tunnel to Towers Foundation comes from Siller’s journey from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the collapsing World Trade Center towers on September 11.

After work at Sportime, Stabile would bake batches of chocolate chip cookies in the evening — making 18 packages containing five cookies each. She’d use her paycheck from Sportime to purchase the ingredients as needed. Baking time, including wrapping the cookies, would take about three hours, she explained. Stabile received permission to sell the cookies from the owners of the farm stand in East Quogue, Moira and Cavit Sarigul. When the cookies would sell out, she would make more, and this continued throughout the summer. The original goal was to raise $500, but Stabile kept baking as the cookies flew off the shelves.

“I’m very proud of Julia,” Robert Stabile, Julia’s father said. “She is very goal oriented, and when she puts her mind toward something, she’s all in. She is a very generous and caring young lady and I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

He noted that once his daughter surpassed her $500 goal, she kept baking until it was time to go back to school.

“They are a great organization and they are providing much needed services for our veterans, first responders and their families,” he said of Tunnels to Towers.

Stabile served in the Marine Corps for 8 years, as a force reconnaissance Marine. He recently retired from the Southampton Town Police Department as a detective, after 27 years of service.

Stabile is unsure of her future career goals, but is considering applying to an ROTC program and studying government in college. She noted that tennis is also a passion of hers, and she’s been on the varsity tennis team for five years at Westhampton Beach.

Accepting the donation on behalf of Tunnel to Towers on Saturday was Rebecca Briggs and her two children, Jayden and Ava. Briggs is an ambassador for the foundation. Her husband, Technical Sergeant Dashan Briggs, was killed in action on March 15, 2018, in a helicopter crash in Iraq while serving as a special missions aviator with the New York Air National Guard, along with seven men aboard the helicopter.

Tunnel to Towers paid off the Briggs family’s mortgage in 2018. Briggs was a graduate of Riverhead High School, and a star athlete on the football and lacrosse teams. He was a full-time member of the Air National Guard 106th Rescue Wing, stationed at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton.

“I wanted to show my gratitude for unwavering valor and service. Many families are left without family members who sacrificed their lives, and are in need of help,” Stabile explained of wanting to become involved with the organization. She added that her father’s service in the Marine Corps and as a police officer inspired her.

“I will bake again next summer because the farm stand closes in the winter months, and I am busy with school, work and tennis now,” Stabile said.“I wanted to help families who lost loved ones in the line of duty.”