Celebrity

Sandra Bullock to Mark Hurricane Katrina Anniversary in NOLA

On the fifth anniversary of the natural disaster, the actress will help dedicate a full-service medical and dental clinic

Published on August 26, 2010 02:10 PM

Five years after New Orleans and its residents were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, Sandra Bullock will step out this weekend in the Big Easy to celebrate one of the biggest success stories to rise from the destruction.

The Oscar-winning actress, who owns a home in New Orleans, will join Mayor Mitch Landrieu on Sunday for the ribbon cutting of a new $700,000 health clinic she helped fund at Warren Easton Charter High School.

Bullock will also sit for an on-camera interview with The Today Show. According to her rep, Bullock will not focus on her much-dissected personal life, but rather on a school and a city that have become vital parts of her life. “This is a cause that is extremely important to her,” says her rep.

Bullock, whose 7-month-old son Louis was born in New Orleans, has long held the city close to her heart.

Among her chief causes has been the historical public school, which sustained $4 million in damages during Katrina. Since then Bullock has donated an undisclosed amount of money to help Warren Easton rebuild, funding everything from new uniforms for the marching band to the reconstruction of the auditorium.

“She acts as if all 800-plus of these children are her own,” school principal Alexina Medley told PEOPLE in March, while school board member Arthur Hardy called her “our angel.”