The Tiny Town That Took In 6,600 Strangers on 9/11

When US airspace closed on the morning of September 11, 2001, every flight in the sky had to land somewhere fast. Thirty-eight jetliners bound for the United States were ordered down at Gander International Airport in Newfoundland, a small Canadian town of just 10,000 people.

A Town That Had No Room

The planes carried about 6,600 passengers and crew, nearly two thirds of Gander's entire population arriving at once.

Most sat on the runway for more than 24 hours while security cleared every bag and every passport. Nobody in Gander knew who was on those planes, or why they had been sent there.

They only knew the town was about to run out of beds.

Schools, Churches and an Ice Rink Full of Food

Local television stations put out one message: lend a hand, do whatever you can. Schools and businesses closed so people could volunteer.

Schools, churches and Royal Canadian Legion halls were converted into dormitories overnight. Residents donated bedding, cooked meals around the clock, and set up hot showers in homes across town.

The Gander Community Centre's ice rink was turned into a food storage depot to handle the donations pouring in from nearby villages like Appleton, Gambo and Lewisporte.

Pharmacists filled prescriptions for free for passengers who had left their medication at home. Bus drivers, in the middle of a labor strike, walked off the picket line to drive people around town at no charge.

Nobody Would Take Their Money

Shopkeepers refused payment for groceries and supplies. Free public telephones were installed so passengers could call home.

Gander's mayor at the time, Claude Elliott, later summed up the week: "We started off with 7,000 strangers, but we finished with 7,000 family members."

US airspace reopened on September 13, and most flights left within a day or two. The last stranded flight did not depart until September 15, four days after it landed.

The Gift That Is Still Being Paid Forward

Passengers on one of the diverted flights were so moved by the hospitality that, before they even left Newfoundland, they pooled together an initial donation to help local students go to college.

That gift started at $15,000. It has since grown into a scholarship fund worth more than $2 million, and it has helped send over 200 students from the Lewisporte area to school.

The story of that week became the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Come From Away. Twenty-five years on, the scholarship fund it inspired is still handing out checks.