Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Gander’s Solace in a Time of Crisis

On the morning of September 11, 2001, 38 planes descended on a small Canadian town of 12,000 people who had no plan, no warning, and no hesitation. Gander, Newfoundland — perched at the edge of the Atlantic, closer to Europe than to most of Canada — became an accidental refuge for 7,000 stranded passengers from all over the world after the United States closed its airspace due to the tragic terrorist attacks. In Gander, schools opened. Churches opened. The local hockey rink was packed with food and used as a giant cooler. And volunteers like Beulah Cooper showed up with sandwiches, drove strangers to pay phones, and offered her own shower and bed to people she’d never met. “It does so good in here,” Cooper says, tapping her chest, “to know that you’re doing something to help somebody.” What followed became the basis for the Tony Award-winning musical “Come From Away” — a show that its creators call a “9/12 musical,” deliberately focused not on the catastrophe but on what ordinary people did the next morning. Former Mayor Claude Elliott, who had never seen a musical in his life, has now watched it 139 times across six countries. The story of Gander doesn’t argue for anything or prove a point — it simply shows what happens when a community decides that the people who have landed on their doorstep are their people now.

Be The Change

Think of one person currently “stranded” in your orbit. Perhaps someone new to the neighborhood, going through a challenging time, or simply unknown to you — and offer one small, specific act of welcome today: a meal, a listening ear, an invitation in.