The Generosity Of The People Of Gander, Newfoundland

This afternoon I had the wonderful fortune to view--during NBC's Olympics coverage--Tom Brokaw's wonderful story about the generosity of the people of Gander, Newfoundland in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. I knew some of this story, but none of the details. Here is the story in a nutshell:

When the FAA realized that America was under attack after the second plane hit the World Trade Center, America's airspace--for the first time in aviation history--was closed. All international flights were re-routed. Some were sent back to Europe or their airport of origin. But some were too far across the Atlantic and did not have sufficient fuel to turn back. Many of those flights were routed to Gander.

Gander is a town of about 10,000 people. Suddenly, with almost no warning, the town was inundated with 7,000 confused, tired, anxious guests. Brokaw's story details the immediate and tremendous outpouring of hospitality, generosity, and friendship from the town's residents to those who had arrived on their doorstep from around the world.

Gander has only enough hotel beds to house 500 people. That meant that thousands were sheltered in the homes of the residents. Stores opened their doors and let people take clothes and food. The two drug stores in town filled travelers' prescriptions free of charge. And the travelers were overwhelmed. There is a segment which sums up the generosity they saw: a local resident tells the guests, who are being transported in a school bus from the airport to the town "whatever you want, whatever you need, just tell us: we will make sure you are taken care of".

The story is truly inspiring. What it shows is that--on one of the darkest days in memory--the worst of a few were countered by the best of many. I just checked the nbcolympics.com website, but they have not yet posted Brokaw's story. I trust they will soon. If they do, I'll come back and post a link. I commend it to you with great enthusiasm.