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HBO Canada - Movies - You Are Here: A Come From Away Story

An intimate feature documentary about the community of Gander, Newfoundland welcoming the over 6,500 passengers who were forced to land after the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

www.hbocanada.com

• Canada’s “Operation Yellow Ribbon” took in 33,000 passengers from 224 flights across Canada
• Newfoundland towns: Gander, Lewisporte, Gambo, Glenwood, Appleton and Norris Arm
• 38 Airliners landed in Gander: 25 American flights, Sabena, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, Air Italia, Malev, Air France, British Airways, and Virgin Air
• Crew and passengers were from 95 countries
• Crew and passengers had to stay in their planes for approx. 24 hours 
• For security reasons, language was not allowed off the planes
• When Bush opened up flights into the US, only American carriers were allowed. Foreign airliners had to fly back to their own countries with their American passengers.

1. Housing: Gander had only 500 hotel rooms. 536 stayed in the Salvation Army and Anglican summer camps, 713 in Lewisporte, 887 in Gambo, 155 in Norris Arm, 542 in Glenwood – a total of 2,833 – and the remaining 3,767 stayed in Gander
2. When the locals found out one couples were newlyweds, they were given their own room in a house.
3. Food: Everyone including students cooked meals according to peoples needs: vegetarian, kosher and even making baby formula. Restaurants and residents donated food.
4. Clothing: Communities donated whatever they had because passengers clothing was stuck on the planes.
5. Paid for all of the long distance calls - costing $13,000
6. Setup computers and internet access - for free
7. When people ran out of toilet paper, people contributed one years worth!
8. The women of Lewisporte took home towels and washed them every night so people had fresh towels

 A town veterinarian took care of the dogs and cats, and even two bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) that were en route to the Columbus, Ohio, zoo. 

“A few years later, I got a letter from the Columbus Zoo and a picture of a baby chimpanzee, and they’d named it Gander”

1. The people of Newfoundland are very proud people. They refused money when offered. But after everyone had left, they found their guests had left a container full of money. People left donations in their national currencies.
2. Shirley Brooks-Jones, a retired Ohio State University administrator and fellow passengers on Flight 15 started the LEWISPORTE AREA FLIGHT 15 SCHOLARSHIP FUND. As of 2016, 228 student scholarships have been awarded.
3. Members of the Rockerfeller Foundation donated $83,000 for a new computer lab in Lewisporte school. Lewisporte residents were originally upset because they didn’t help others for money.
4. Passengers who stayed at the Gander campus of College of the North Atlantic donated $20,000 for a scholarship fund
5. The World Trade Center gifted Gander with a piece of steel from the original WTC.
6. Lufthansa named an Airbus 340, “Gander”

Mr. Ambassador, you have assembled before you, here on Parliament Hill and right across Canada, a people united in outrage, in grief, in compassion, and in resolve. A people of every faith and nationality to be found on earth.

A people who, as a result of the atrocity committed against the United States on September 11, 2001, feel not only like neighbours, but like family.