On September 11, 2001, the Gander Campus of the College of the North Atlantic accommodated 438 stranded airline passengers who were diverted to Canada due to US airspace closure. Mac Moss, a retired principal at the college, recalled that the campus initially came to a standstill after learning of the attacks, but eventually rallied to provide shelter, food, and medical care for the passengers. The college's facilities, including commercial cooking and electronics classes, allowed students and staff to prepare hot meals and set up makeshift television feeds. Over 6,700 people in total were provided with assistance by Gander residents during this time, with many also offering personal items such as bedding and clothing.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
But Canadians know it for its citizens’ famous acts of kindness and hospitality, caring for 6,700+ stranded airline strangers in the days after the 9/11 attacks.
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Canadians → know → attacks
Now retired as principal at the Gander Campus of the College of the North Atlantic, he and his team at the school helped 438 people who suddenly found themselves grounded in Canada after U.S. airspace was closed.
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airspace → retire → Canada
“Our college year just started …
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year → start → ?
Everybody was in class, or wherever they were supposed to be,” he recalled in an interview.
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he → suppose → interview
Moss learned about the attack in a phone call from one of his staff.
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Moss → learn → staff
“She said: ‘We’re listening to the radio up here.
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We → say → radio
And a plane just flew into one of the World Trade Center Towers.’
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plane → fly → Towers
”
The effect on campus, at first, was paralyzing, Moss said.
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Moss → say → campus
“Everybody started crowding around the television, some radio.
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Everybody → crowd → television
And the campus virtually came to a standstill.”
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campus → come → standstill
At 1 p.m., the Town of Gander’s emergency services called Moss, asking if the campus could accommodate incoming planeloads of passengers by providing shelter, first aid and food.
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campus → call → shelter
“I knew the size of the campus, the space we had available, and I said yes,” Moss said.
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Moss → know → campus
At 7 p.m., town manager Jake Turner told him he’d be getting a jumbo jet-load of people.
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he → tell → people
That plane, carrying 234 passengers according to Moss’ recollection, was the first of two whose passengers the college hosted.
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college → carry → passengers
It was a stroke of luck that the college had commercial cooking and electronics classes running that day; it allowed students and staff to prepare hot food, set up additional television feeds with microphones in the cafeteria, and gather supplies.
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students → have → supplies
Many people in Gander, including Moss’s wife, the college’s employees and their spouses, volunteered everything from bedding to food for their “guests,” as Ganderites endearingly call the plane people.
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Ganderites → include → people
Gander provided free medical treatment, such as free prescription renewals, for the passengers as needed.
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Gander → provide → passengers
Gander Campus also had a few student nurses available to assist.
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nurses → have → ?
“We had them set up serving a little triage area,” Moss recalled.
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Moss → have → area
As the “guests” trickled in, many did not even know where they were; they needed to see the news, make calls, or send emails.
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they → trickle → emails
The passengers had tight living conditions:
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passengers → have → conditions
“20 or 30 people to a room, and … they were lying on a tile floor, with just a blanket or a sheet underneath them,” Moss recalled.
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Moss → lie → them
“If they didn’t have a pillow, we give them an extra sheet to put over the shoes for pillows.”
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we → have → pillows
“When the passengers came down to their breakfast, it was like walking into a first-class hotel.
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it → come → hotel
I mean, everything in the world that you wanted for breakfast was available,” said Moss.
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Moss → mean → breakfast
“The big problem our cooks had, after the first day, was the stores were running out of food,” he said.
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he → have → food
But “Our cooks had managed to secure, you know, 250 or 300 chicken breasts in their raid of the stores the night before.”
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you → manage → stores
To meet the needs of guests, everyone pitched in.
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everyone → meet → guests
“The Salvation Army took control of the local hockey rink, and … turned that into a walk-in cooler,” Moss recalled.
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Moss → take → cooler
Nearby towns also volunteered supplies.
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towns → volunteer → supplies
He felt exhausted after the passengers left, having slept only two hours in the three days his campus hosted the passengers.
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campus → feel → passengers
“I did over 300 interviews, and I always asked them the same question: ‘How did you feel after the passengers left?’”
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passengers → do → question
“What they remembered most was the total exhaustion.”
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remembered → remember → What
The former principal had trouble sleeping too.
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principal → have → trouble
“After the passengers left, I don’t think I had a good night’s sleep for two or three months,” he said.
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he → leave → months
He relived every detail of those few days in his mind.
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He → relive → mind
Moss continues to stay connected with some of the guests, such as Kevin Tuerff, a passenger who is portrayed in the musical Come From Away.
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who → continue → Away
“Kevin has been a frequent visitor to our house,” said Moss.
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Moss → say → house
Moss has also visited the 9/11 site in New York City.
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Moss → visit → City
Twenty-five years after the plane people’s arrival, he says the big takeaway for him is “how well our towns — plural, our towns — were prepared to handle such an event, and they didn’t know it, because they had never experienced (this) before.”
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they → say → this
…and 2 more, not listed.
