College of the North Atlantic -- September 11, 2001 in Stephenville

One of the passengers from a plane diverted to Stephenville during the September 11 terrorist attacks has donated a $750 scholarship to the College of the North Atlantic.

Jim Crane of Atlanta contacted the college to donate a $500 US cheque for any scholarship the College chooses.

In a letter he wrote to district administrator Cyril Organ, Crane expresses his astonishment at the treatment he received while stranded here.

"During my short say at the College of the North Atlantic, I was treated far beyond what I would have ever expected in situations like this to make my stay as comfortable as possible," says Crane.

In his letter, Mr. Crane sends a special thank-you to students for giving their rooms, giving a free concert, and for their overall kindness. He also sends a thank-you to Organ for his constant work to make sure everyone's needs were met. He mentions twice in his letter that he is thankful for the food.

Crane says the scholarship was a way he could express his gratitude for the students' willingness to help strangers out on a moment's notice.

"This was a personal gift from me to express my personal gratitude for the fantastic hospitality I was afforded during my stay at your college," says Crane.

"In some small way, I wanted to say thank you to a great group of people that took in complete strangers to make us comfortable in our time of stress and need."

"Everyone was so willing to help us out with food, entertainment, computer support so we could send messages, and gave us respect for what we were going through."

Organ says he was surprised to hear someone would like to reward the College for helping people in need.

"We didn't expect anything from anyone but the cards of thanks and the letters have been coming in, and it seems like people appreciated what we did to help," he says.

"We certainly didn't expect money but we appreciate it. Mr. Crane has indicated that he would like the money to go into a scholarship fund so I have recommended that's where it go."

Organ believes he has the perfect course for the scholarship.

"He has indicated in his letter on two points that he is thankful for the food, so I was thinking it might be appropriate if we put it towards cooking scholarships."

Organ says the College's scholarship committee will decide where the scholarship will go, but he suspects the money will be broken down into smaller scholarships to last longer.

"Five hundred US is $700-plus Canadian, but we're not sure how we're going to do it," says Organ. "The scholarship committee will make the call, but one option might be several $100 scholarships to extend it over as many years as we can."

"This came completely out of the blue, but it's greatly appreciated and we'll put it to great use."

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