Waiting to receive donations from the KATRINA Walk are, from left, Marvalene Hughes, president of Dillard University; Victor Ukpolo, chancellor of Southern University of New Orleans; Norman Francis, president of Xavier University; and Scott Cowen, president of Tulane. (Photos by Nick Marinello)

Jill Rovaris fulfilled the promise of last June's KATRINA Walk -- "Keeping All The Resources In New Orleans Alive" -- by handing out a total of $69,000 in event proceeds to nine New Orleans-area institutions of higher learning on Monday (April 30).

Leaders from the nine institutions took turns heading to the front of the Stibbs Conference Room in the Lavin-Bernick Center to receive ceremonial checks from Rovaris, who organized the fund-raising event.

The executive director of the Educational Resources and Counseling Center at Tulane, Rovaris organized the event after Hurricane Katrina "to try and turn the negative into a positive." More than 1,000 people signed up for the walk, held June 24, 2006, to raise money for New Orleans colleges and universities.

Rovaris has asked that each of the institutions use the money to initiate or add to a student emergency fund on their campuses.

"At Tulane, we are starting an emergency fund through the Office of Student Affairs, so this will be the first drop of money into that fund," Rovaris said.

Amy Collins, left, and Diana Michel, center, of the student-operated Tulane Emergency Medical Service, receive an honorary award for the group's assistance with the KATRINA Walk from Jill Rovaris, organizer of the fund-raising event.

She divided up the proceeds among the nine organizations according to institutional need, but primarily based on the number of people from each institution who participated in the walk, in addition to funds that were donated to a specific college or university.

Xavier University received the largest check, $13,000, because of the 292 people representing Xavier who participated in the walk. The University of New Orleans got $9,100, followed by $9,000 for Tulane.

Other proceeds went to Dillard University, $7,200; Southern University of New Orleans, $7,000; Delgado Community College, $6,500; Loyola University, $6,200; the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center of New Orleans, $6,000; and Holy Cross College, $5,000.

"I'm really grateful," Rovaris said. We were able to bring nine institutions together -- nine presidents and chancellors who may not otherwise come together for this sort of event."

Tulane President Scott Cowen has asked Rovaris to "do it again," and promised his support. After a successful first-time effort, she is thinking about that possibility.