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.
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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.
>What We Can Take From This
Stories like this remind us that kindness does not need a big budget or a perfect plan. It starts when ordinary people see a need and say yes.
Most of the people who helped did not do it for credit. They saw others in a hard place and acted. That is a good question to ask yourself: who is in a hard place near me today?
You may never be in a moment this dramatic. But you will have small chances. A neighbor who needs a ride, a coworker who is struggling or a stranger who looks lost. Each one is a small chance to open your door.
Hospitality is a habit before it is a moment. If you practice welcoming people into your home, your conversations and your time, you will be ready when a bigger need appears.
Pass this story to someone who needs a reminder that people are still good. Then do one kind thing today.
What Gander teaches us
Nobody in Gander got a chance to prepare. The planes landed, the doors opened, and the town had to decide in a few hours what kind of people they were going to be. They decided to open the doors.
I think about how small that decision looks from the inside. Someone makes a pot of soup. Someone gives up a bed. Someone drives a stranger to a pharmacy. None of it feels heroic while you are doing it. It just feels like the next right thing.
The small version for your week
You will probably never host thousands of people. But you will meet someone this week who is tired, lost or far from home. A kind word costs you nothing. A real welcome, even a short one, can stay with a person for years.
Ask yourself who is a stranger in your world right now. A new person at work. A new family at church. A neighbor who keeps to themselves. Start there.
Try this today
Pick one person and make their day easier. Hold a door, share a meal, send a message that says you are glad they are around. Do it without a reason and without needing a thank you.
That is how a whole town changes what people remember about it. One decision at a time, made by ordinary people. You can be one of them. Let’s go.
Words from Positive Phil
There is always something to be thankful for. Start there.
A little history
- After the September 11 attacks in 2001, flights were sent away from U.S. airspace. Gander International Airport in Newfoundland took in 38 large planes.
- About 6,600 passengers and crew landed. Gander then had fewer than 10,000 residents.
- Residents opened homes, schools and halls. Then Prime Minister Jean Chretien spoke of countless acts of kindness toward the stranded visitors.
- A year later, about 2,500 people gathered at the airport for a memorial service.
What we can take from it
A small town did a big thing by opening its doors. You may never host thousands, but you can host one person for one meal.
Source: Wikipedia, Operation Yellow Ribbon.
Keep exploring
If this helped, here are more places to go on Positive Phil. Read the Positive Glossary for plain words on big ideas. Find a small act in Kindness Ideas for Real Life. Start a daily habit with 31 Days of Encouragement. Look for comfort in Faith for Every Season. Explore Careers That Help People, or learn about trusted charities and ways to help. You can also try our Choose Your Path story.
Journal prompts
When have strangers helped me? Who could I welcome?
Make someone's day
Pass this on. One kind message can change a whole day. Then play a game that does some good.
