On September 11, 2001, North American airspace was shut down. Planes headed for the United States had to land wherever they could. Thirty-eight of them came down at the airport in Gander, Newfoundland, a small town in Canada with fewer than 10,000 people.
Suddenly, about 6,600 passengers and crew were stuck there. The town’s population jumped by more than half in a few hours.
The town said yes
Gander did not say it was too much. People opened schools, gyms and churches. Hotels filled up, and the rest of the visitors stayed in homes. Residents brought food, blankets, clothes and toiletries. They gave people rides.
Chaplains at the airport comforted frightened passengers who did not yet know whether their families were safe.
Comfort in a dark week
The passengers stayed for days until airspace reopened. Many of them said later that what they remember most about that week is the kindness of strangers.
Canada’s prime minister at the time said that 9/11 would be remembered as a day of terror and grief, but also as a day of comfort and healing because of acts of kindness like these.
What stays with me
Nobody in Gander had a plan for this. They just had open hearts and open doors.
You may not be able to fix the big problems of the world, but you can open your door. One meal and one kind word for one stranger is still a miracle to that person.
Source: read more about the facts here.
Keep reading
- More motivation
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- Good news stories Opening the town
Gander had no plan for a day like this. The town opened its doors anyway. Churches, schools and even the hockey rink became shelters, and the ice in the rink was used to keep donated food cold. Townspeople made sandwiches, drove passengers to phones and took people into their homes. Thirty-eight wide-body planes landed, carrying about 6,600 passengers and crew, in a town of roughly 10,000 people. Sources differ a little on the exact counts. The people of Gander did not wait for the numbers to settle. They started cooking.
What stayed behind
The story did not end when the planes left. It became the musical Come From Away, which tells those days on stage. The show earned seven Tony nominations in 2017 and won the Tony for Best Direction of a Musical.
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