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Book Cover for: Oregon Loves New York: A Story of American Unity After 9/11, Sally Ruth Bourrie

Oregon Loves New York: A Story of American Unity After 9/11

Sally Ruth Bourrie

Paperback
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A nation in mourning. A city recovering. A unique moment in history when people came together to rebuild hope.

When an unimaginable crisis emerged, politically polarized Oregon found a common mission. Three weeks after the September 11th terrorist attacks, airplanes were empty and the New York economy was tanking. So 1,000 Freedom Fliers committed to taking 62 flights to NYC and infusing local businesses with revenue to show their unwavering support.

Arriving en masse to the grief-filled streets, Oregonians from diverse backgrounds and social statuses came to make a difference in their fellow Americans' lives. But beyond the much-needed economic boost, these unsung heroes discovered themselves providing something even more essential... their open hearts.

Sally Ruth Bourrie, freelance writer for the Chicago Tribune and The Boston Globe, witnessed firsthand this remarkable phenomenon sparked by the 2001 Flight for Freedom.

In a comprehensive and poignant account, she brings this extraordinary and largely unknown story vividly to life. In Oregon Loves New York, you'll discover:

-How everyday people can make a huge difference by being present for others in times of need

-Ways a divided community can put aside politics, ideologies, and disagreements to achieve amazing things together

-More than 700 pages of tales of courage and humanity, including 200 full-color photographs, 100 personal interviews, 20 years of research, and archival news pieces now lost to history

-Heart-touching examples of the healing power of person-to-person contact and how we as a nation can honor each other

-Insight into a little-known event with a huge impact, positive messages of hope, and much, much more!

Oregon Loves New York: A Story of American Unity After 9/11 is a stunning look into a country rising from the ashes of unthinkable catastrophe. If you like true-life narratives, triumphs over tragedy, and the goodness of the human spirit, then you'll be uplifted by Sally Ruth Bourrie's inspirational journey.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Herbert & Joy Press
  • Publish Date: Jul 29th, 2024
  • Pages: 730
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - 0003
  • Dimensions: 9.00in - 6.00in - 1.46in - 2.11lb
  • EAN: 9781737833758
  • Categories: • United States - 21st Century

About the Author

Bourrie, Sally Ruth: - Sally Ruth Bourrie loves to tell inspiring stories about people making a difference. She is enormously proud to have told the story of the heroic Oregonians who cared for New Yorkers after 9/11 in her book, Oregon Loves New York (oregonlovesnewyork.com). She has pitched and sold more than 2,000 pieces to outlets including The Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, The Oregonian, The Denver Post, and The Dallas Morning News, Plain Dealer Magazine, Chicago magazine, Northwest Woman, NASDAQ, Colorado Business, Alaska Airlines magazine, Cable World, Wireless Week, Newsweek.com and Barnes and Noble digital library.She is currently writer-editor at the Farm Credit Administration, where she wrote the script for Letters from the Grapevine, a film about the agency's employees who served in World War II. Its thousands of views on YouTube have broken all previous agency records.She's also worked in the arts, as senior editor for permanent collections at the National Gallery of Art and by contributing 1,200 artist biographies and objects descriptions to the J. Paul Getty Museum website. For the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, she researched and wrote the first exhibition catalogue on California wood engraver Paul Landacre. Learn more at sallybourrie.com.
Bergstein, Len: - Oregon's Leonard "Len" Bergstein (1945-2022) was a renowned and respected political consultant, lobbyist, and commentator on KGW-TV. He was one of the organizers of the Flight for Freedom, and was called the project's "moral center" by his colleagues.Bergstein was born in New York City on Nov. 13, 1945, to Theresa and Abraham Bergstein. He attended Wesleyan University and earned his law degree from New York University School of Law. He moved to Oregon in 1972. He was a legislative aide to Oregon Gov. Bob Straub and was an aide to Neil Goldschmidt when Goldschmidt was mayor of Portland and later U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Bergstein started his own consulting firm, Northwest Strategies, a leading political firm with primarily corporate clients for more than 40 years. He was an adviser to Oregon Supreme Court Justice Betty Roberts, Multnomah County Commissioner Gladys McCoy, Portland City Commissioner Charles Jordan and Portland Mayor Vera Katz.U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) paid tribute to Bergstein on Twitter: "Len was instrumental with my start in public life by helping me earn a place with Gov. Straub on Oregon's board of nursing home administrators. I'm eternally grateful for his presence in my life and will miss him greatly."Bergstein was an enthusiastic Portland booster who advised local political campaigns and nonprofits, including, mostly recently, the Albina Vision Trust, which is seeking to revitalize Portland's historically Black Albina neighborhood that was divided by the construction of Interstate 5. He was actively working to advance the trust's work at the time of his death. He appeared regularly as a political commentator on Portland TV station KGW for more than a decade.

Praise for this book

This is truly a heartfelt and compelling piece of nonfiction. It can't fail to stir feelings of patriotism in the minds of many and to provide a silver lining for a moment of national tragedy that in many ways defined a generation. Told in a lively and uplifting spirit. This touching book is the right mix of gorgeous and haunting, soulful and triumphant. . . .

This engrossing book is not only a detailed study of the state of Oregon and its people; it's also the rare kind of history book that tackles a subject from a different vantage point. The focus isn't on the attacks, rather on the effects they had on the confidence of the national identity. It was the rarest of moments when all Americans managed to share in collective sorrow and these Flights of Freedom were just one ofnumerous examples of Americans placing unity above self-interest.

This is truly a heartfelt and compelling piece of nonfiction. It can't fail to stir feelings of patriotism in the minds of many and to provide a silver lining for a moment of national tragedy that in many ways defined a generation. Told in a lively and uplifting spirit.This touching book is the right mix of gorgeous and haunting, soulful and triumphant.

Robert Buccellato, Manhattan Book Review, 5 stars


An insightful book about a truly remarkable example of civic participation. . . . Sally Bourrie originally covered the Freedom Fliers' campaign for the Chicago Tribune and The Boston Globe, and given the current divided state of the country, she has now written a book about it in the hope of highlighting how much can be achieved when Americans pull together in the face of adversity. . . .

While the Flight for Freedom involved remarkable organizational effort, it was also participated in by a thousand individual citizens of Oregon, people from vastly different backgrounds who were living vastly different lives. . . . Their collective tale really is a remarkable one.

A truly emotive read, Oregon Loves New York is an important account of how individual people ensured that some good could be derived following an episode of monumental evil.

Erin Britton, Portland Book Review, 4.5 stars