How a little piece of Gander ended up at 9/11 Memorial Museum

Hiking in the picturesque mountains of northern Italy 16 years ago is a trip that's faint in memory for New Yorker Jackie Pinto.

But her trip home that resulted in an unexpected detour to Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador couldn't be clearer.

She remembers seeing roastchicken-flavoured chips for the first time. She remembers going bowling. She remembers buying a card of six hoop earrings for $3 at a local store.

Littlepieces are part ofa very big story whichI know well but other people need to be told the story.- Jackie Pinto

And she certainly remembers the kindness ... and of course, the food.

"Every meal was like an extravaganza," said Pinto. "The food, I mean, they were making food at home ... we had bakery stuff, buffets of freshly baked goods. It was amazing."

"It's not a blur at all, it's very clear to me."

Gander tile at 9/11 Memorial

Pinto had been travelling with a friend, but the two took separate flights back to Newark, New Jersey.

Her friend got home that day. Pinto landed in unfamiliar territory and stayed for days in a church in Gander before making it home to the smell of smoke in New York City.

Years later, Pinto handed over her Gander mementos to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum that was erected at the base of the former World Trade Center towers.

Photos taken by her disposable camera show the progression of glum, confused faces to smiling ones, as strangers became friends in the days that followed the terroristattacks in the United States.

"I know that a lot of people, particularly outside ofNewYork,observe this from a distance and I think the little artifacts to me it's etched in mymemory but it could tell the story for the first timeto somebody else."

"Little pieces are part of a very big story whichI know well but other people need to be told the story."

Pinto's small tile, purchased at a shop in Gander, is the only piece of Newfoundland in the memorial.

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Jan Ramirez, chief curator with the 9/11 Memorial &Museum,said much of the memorial is constructed through the lens of Sept. 12, 2001.

It's really important to show visitors that we are defined really much more by what connects us as caring human beings than what divides us.- Jan Ramirez, curator, 9/11 Memorial and Museum

The story of kindness in the midst of tragedy is one that needed to be commemorated in the memorial, she said.

"I think we caught up with the Canadian Maritime story a year or two later when we were ready to take it in," Ramirez said.

"I think by then as we try to do in this museum as you try to experience the very challenging and troublesome events of the day, it's really important to show visitors that we are defined really much more by what connects us as caring human beings than what divides us."

Ramirez welcomes any other pieces which tell the story of air travellers being embraced in Canada.

Meanwhile, Pinto is happy to have helped tell Gander's story. Shehasn't seen the piece yet but plans on going some day.

She's also planning on taking in Come From Away on Broadway.

"I was just in this beautiful place," she said of Gander."I had gained something."

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