A town of 8,000 took in 7,000 stranded strangers

When the FAA shut down American airspace on the morning of September 11, 2001, some 7,000 passengers from 38 planes landed in Gander, Newfoundland, a fishing town of about 8,000 people. As the aircraft touched down, Mayor Claude Elliott went door to door asking neighbors for spare blankets, pillows and cots, warning them they might never get the items back. Nobody minded. Sue Riccardelli, flying from Paris to Newark with her wife, Maureen Murray, slept on a classroom floor at the College of the North Atlantic. Pharmacies filled prescriptions for free, and residents drove strangers to Walmart for clean underwear. "We ate better than we ate in Paris," Riccardelli said. American airspace reopened on September 13, and the planes left. The passengers did not forget. A scholarship fund they started with $15,000 has since raised more than $1 million for Gander's students. Every September, Riccardelli flies a Canadian American flag outside her home.