It was early October in 2001 when 1,000 Oregonians flew to New York City. It took 62 flights, 12 different airports and an unrivaled amount of determination to get there. It was called the Flight for Freedom. And it happened less than a month after the 9/11 attacks.

At 6:30 p.m. at Roundabout Books in Bend on Tuesday, author Sally Bourrie will share stories from the new edition of her book “Oregon Loves New York: A Story of American Unity After 9/11,” alongside three Bend residents who participated in the program, and will bring photo albums and newspaper articles that covered the efforts of Bend Freedom Fliers.

A freelance writer and journalist who lived in Portland at the time, Bourrie covered the Flight for Freedom for The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune. She experienced firsthand the historic efforts of Oregonians to support New York City’s economy and show the rest of the country that getting on a plane was not impossible, at a time when Americans were terrified to fly.

“It’s 20 years later, and hardly anyone in Oregon knows about it,” Bourrie said. “And it’s such an important part of Oregon history.”

The last place people would travel to was New York City, she said, because people were worried that it would be a target again.

“So the purpose of the trip really was to show the world not to be afraid,” Bourrie said. “These people are going to get on planes. We’re going to show people not to be afraid.”

Oregonian Loen Dozono first thought of the idea for the Flight for Freedom around Sept. 19, just over a week after the attacks. Her husband, Sho Dozono, owner of Azumano Travel and chairman of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, rallied a group of statewide leaders to organize the event. Everyone who took part in the program was a volunteer.

“They didn’t realize the level of pain the city was in. Even now it’s bringing tears to my eyes,” Bourrie said. “You think of New York as this busy place. Everybody too busy to stop and talk, kind of gruff, all this stuff.”

But New York City had changed, she said. Portland Mayor Vera Katz led the group in New York. The Freedom Fliers marched in the Columbus Day Parade, rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, held a memorial service at Union Square, appeared on Good Morning America and held a banquet for 700 people in Chinatown, which was located near the World Trade Center and was economically hit hard by the attacks.

But the biggest impact from the Flight for Freedom were the connections Oregonians made with the New Yorkers themselves.

Wearing shirts and buttons that said “Oregon loves New York,” Oregonians were easily recognizable on the street.

“People would just come up to you and thank you for coming,” Bourrie said. “And a lot of times, people would start telling you their stories, they would cry, they would need hugs.”

For Bourrie, the Flight for Freedom shows how important it is to be there for others. Oregonians came together across different religions, political beliefs and race, she said. It didn’t matter who you were.

“It turned out that we’re all people. Humanity is the same wherever you are,” Bourrie said.

Martin Fisher, a Bend resident who took part in the program, had just opened his own law practice around the time the 9/11 attacks happened. After reading about the Flight for Freedom, he found that the trip was $379 round-trip. Fisher spoke with his wife at the time, Kerri Rossi, about going to New York with their 6-year-old daughter. And they decided to do it.

Fisher remembers standing near Ground Zero, hearing a strange combination of intense quiet mixed with the distant sound of the machines digging up rubble a block and a half away.

“It was like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. People haven’t existed here in 100 years,” Fisher said. “There were people who had photos and were standing there sobbing. That part was intense. It still is.”

The Flight for Freedom is a valuable story to be told, he said.

“Other than my current wife, I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody I went,” Fisher said. “I think hearing from the people who went, besides making it more real, might inspire people to think, ‘Maybe I could do something insane like that.’”

Bourrie’s book is available now.