Among the multitude of stories on this occasion of the 15th anniversary of 9/11 are many that come from Canada, specifically from Newfoundland where so many US-bound planes were diverted when the US airspace was closed, their passengers dispersed throughout many small towns where the generosity of the locals and the lasting friendships that were made became the stuff of legend.
One such story concerns the passengers from Delta 15, originally bound from Frankfurt to Atlanta. I don’t have a good account of it because it mostly comes from a CBC radio broadcast, although there’s a link here with some details. The mostly American passengers were overwhelmingly grateful for all the care and attention they had received during their unexpected stay in Newfoundland, and wanted to pay it back, but the residents of Lewisporte, NL, just looked them in the eye and said that anyone else would have done the same, and they didn’t expect or want any compensation.
The problem that the passengers faced was how to do something for their hosts without offending their pride. As Delta 15 finally left and headed toward Atlanta, passenger Shirley Brooks-Jones got the captain’s permission to use the PA system to ask for pledges from the other passengers in support of what they hoped might become a small tuition assistance fund for Lewisporte students. The captain was the first to contribute, and by the time the plane landed in Atlanta, Brooks-Jones had raised $15,000 in pledges.
That would be a lovely story if it just ended there, but it didn’t. Brooks-Jones kept up the fundraising, and before long the initiative was able to report $800,000 in pledges. And she kept on. Today, the Lewisporte Area Flight 15 Scholarship Fund has an endowment exceeding US $2 million (the cited article is out of date) and has so far helped 160 local students with college scholarships. http://www.canadianexpatnetwork.com/public/935.cfm
NPR ran a story yesterday on Weekend Edition Saturday featuring Shirley Brooks-Jones and her experience as one of the “plane people” (what the people of the Gander area called those they hosted for a few days). It may be the same story you heard on CBC radio.
A transcript and the audio of the story are at the link above.
Good book. A lot of the Ganderites mentioned in it are still here, always going good deeds. Tirle is actually “The Day the World Came to Town”, though.
It’s the same Shirley Brooks-Jones and it discusses that event, but the CBC story was much longer and covered many other cases. But your link reminded me that I should have searched the CBC archives, which I just did, and here is the whole 53-minute CBC broadcast that you can listen to online, and those interested can also click on the “Podcast” button on the top right, then right-click on the particular episode and download it as an MP3.
I learn from Wikipedia that this story was told in the form of a musical theater show. I think it would also make a nice movie if anyone were so inclined.
“On 9/11, a tiny Canadian town opened its runways and heart to 7,000 stranded travelers”
Do read the whole story. I heard it on NPR the other day and could practically feel the car levitate from sheer inspiration. But the fabulous punch line is this:
The part that made me cry was the local SPCA went to the airport and got permission to go through the plane’s cargo holds and rescue all the animals, who had run out of food, water, had to use their containers as a bathroom, and were sitting in the dark with no idea what happened. They probably thought they’d been abandoned to hell.
I image a lot of the passengers felt much better when they were reunited with their pets, and I know the animals did!