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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Dan Seeley, Teresa Seeley
Aired September 07, 2003 - 08:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. More now on life after the September 11 attacks. Gander, Newfoundland is a long way from Manhattan, but on that day the two places were linked by the tragedy. Within minutes of the attacks, dozens of airliners were heading to the U.S. and they were diverted to Canada.
Now in Gander, Newfoundland, townspeople gave food and shelter to hundreds of people they'd never met before, stranded passengers who no doubt think kindly on that moment. Now a couple from New York is repaying that kindness. And joining us this morning, Dan and Teresa Seeley from Syracuse.
Good morning. Thanks very much.
DAN SEELEY, HOLDING THANK-YOU BANQUET: Good morning. Thanks for having us.
CALLEBS: And explain just a bit. You guys are caterers, and your way of paying back all those folks, just treat everybody to a wonderful catered meal. Now how are you going to do that? Because, as I understand it, there can be as many as 10,000 people.
D. SEELEY: There could be 10,000. There's 10,000 in the entire town. We anticipate if we had about half show up that would be tremendous. But we're going to do it by donation, which we've received a lot of, and a lot of hard work and some great volunteers.
CALLEBS: So many questions come up. Getting the food there, I don't presume that you can do that. So you're going to try and look for what you can find and buy in Gander?
D. SEELEY: Actually, Schneider Foods in Canada just stepped up huge with an enormous donation which is going to help us greatly get the food off the ground when we get there.
CALLEBS: That's great. Tell us about how this came about and what kind of meal you hope to offer the folks.
D. SEELEY: Well, it came about by a seeing a news story on the generosity of these great people of Gander. And it was just something -- we looked at each other and said "Hey, we're caterers. Let's go there and put a meal out for these guys and thank them."
We didn't realize how bumpy that road would be and how hard it would be. But we've come an awful long way in about 13 months and we're definitely going to get it done. CALLEBS: Let's let your wife jump in here just a bit. What are some of the bumps that you have come across in the months that you've been trying to do this? I'm sure there have been very high highs and very low lows. Any point that you ever wondered, "Can we pull this off?"
TERESA SEELEY, HOLDING THANK-YOU BANQUET: There have been a few of those moments. It has been a very emotional year. We've devoted so much time to it.
Our kids have kind of missed out on some of the things that we typically do during the summer. And it's been a stressful household for the past year.
D. SEELEY: I'll say.
T. SEELEY: But the point where we felt like giving up on the idea, we decided that what better lesson to teach our children than whatever they could dream of, they could achieve if they stuck to it. So we're sticking to it, and it's going to happen one way or another.
CALLEBS: Well, good for you guys. Even if you get 5,000 people, it's a pretty modest catering operation that you own. Have you ever done anything of this size?
T. SEELEY: No.
D. SEELEY: The food is the easiest part. It's getting everybody there and raising enough money and enough awareness to accomplish it. It (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the logistics. Getting our transportation from Syracuse to Gander is the hardest part so far. We're having trouble getting air service.
CALLEBS: Really? That's amazing. And if people would like to help out, they can call, donate services, time, money, things of that nature?
T. SEELEY: Yes, absolutely. We have a Web site set up. It's www.gratitudeforgander.com. And a lot of this has been able to happen through private donations from private citizens.
We just received a substantial donation from a company in Lafayette called Lock and Locks (ph). That was our biggest donation to date of a monetary gift. So, yes, we're still looking very much for more help pulling this off.
You know, when this all happened, the people in Gander all came out in force. Every man, woman and child pitched in to take care of these people. So we really want this to be a representation of America saying thanks, and not just a couple of people from Syracuse. So we would like more involvement from people across the country.
CALLEBS: Well, great. It's a very noble effort. We'll keep you in our thoughts. And I understand it's September 20th.
Best of luck to you guys. And good luck. And I know the people of Newfoundland --I've been there; it is a beautiful area -- are going to enjoy this.
Thanks very much.
D. SEELEY: We're looking forward to it. Thank you.
T. SEELEY: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 7, 2003 - 08:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. More now on life after the September 11 attacks. Gander, Newfoundland is a long way from Manhattan, but on that day the two places were linked by the tragedy. Within minutes of the attacks, dozens of airliners were heading to the U.S. and they were diverted to Canada.
Now in Gander, Newfoundland, townspeople gave food and shelter to hundreds of people they'd never met before, stranded passengers who no doubt think kindly on that moment. Now a couple from New York is repaying that kindness. And joining us this morning, Dan and Teresa Seeley from Syracuse.
Good morning. Thanks very much.
DAN SEELEY, HOLDING THANK-YOU BANQUET: Good morning. Thanks for having us.
CALLEBS: And explain just a bit. You guys are caterers, and your way of paying back all those folks, just treat everybody to a wonderful catered meal. Now how are you going to do that? Because, as I understand it, there can be as many as 10,000 people.
D. SEELEY: There could be 10,000. There's 10,000 in the entire town. We anticipate if we had about half show up that would be tremendous. But we're going to do it by donation, which we've received a lot of, and a lot of hard work and some great volunteers.
CALLEBS: So many questions come up. Getting the food there, I don't presume that you can do that. So you're going to try and look for what you can find and buy in Gander?
D. SEELEY: Actually, Schneider Foods in Canada just stepped up huge with an enormous donation which is going to help us greatly get the food off the ground when we get there.
CALLEBS: That's great. Tell us about how this came about and what kind of meal you hope to offer the folks.
D. SEELEY: Well, it came about by a seeing a news story on the generosity of these great people of Gander. And it was just something -- we looked at each other and said "Hey, we're caterers. Let's go there and put a meal out for these guys and thank them."
We didn't realize how bumpy that road would be and how hard it would be. But we've come an awful long way in about 13 months and we're definitely going to get it done. CALLEBS: Let's let your wife jump in here just a bit. What are some of the bumps that you have come across in the months that you've been trying to do this? I'm sure there have been very high highs and very low lows. Any point that you ever wondered, "Can we pull this off?"
TERESA SEELEY, HOLDING THANK-YOU BANQUET: There have been a few of those moments. It has been a very emotional year. We've devoted so much time to it.
Our kids have kind of missed out on some of the things that we typically do during the summer. And it's been a stressful household for the past year.
D. SEELEY: I'll say.
T. SEELEY: But the point where we felt like giving up on the idea, we decided that what better lesson to teach our children than whatever they could dream of, they could achieve if they stuck to it. So we're sticking to it, and it's going to happen one way or another.
CALLEBS: Well, good for you guys. Even if you get 5,000 people, it's a pretty modest catering operation that you own. Have you ever done anything of this size?
T. SEELEY: No.
D. SEELEY: The food is the easiest part. It's getting everybody there and raising enough money and enough awareness to accomplish it. It (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the logistics. Getting our transportation from Syracuse to Gander is the hardest part so far. We're having trouble getting air service.
CALLEBS: Really? That's amazing. And if people would like to help out, they can call, donate services, time, money, things of that nature?
T. SEELEY: Yes, absolutely. We have a Web site set up. It's www.gratitudeforgander.com. And a lot of this has been able to happen through private donations from private citizens.
We just received a substantial donation from a company in Lafayette called Lock and Locks (ph). That was our biggest donation to date of a monetary gift. So, yes, we're still looking very much for more help pulling this off.
You know, when this all happened, the people in Gander all came out in force. Every man, woman and child pitched in to take care of these people. So we really want this to be a representation of America saying thanks, and not just a couple of people from Syracuse. So we would like more involvement from people across the country.
CALLEBS: Well, great. It's a very noble effort. We'll keep you in our thoughts. And I understand it's September 20th.
Best of luck to you guys. And good luck. And I know the people of Newfoundland --I've been there; it is a beautiful area -- are going to enjoy this.
Thanks very much.
D. SEELEY: We're looking forward to it. Thank you.
T. SEELEY: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
