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Tony Wilson, Lurelia Freeman, Leslie Thompson, Eric Petzschke, and Tony Hauser were some of these students. The students set out to create a student organization devoted to keeping the relief effort a live issue on campus, After returning to New Orleans in June to continue their work, they created the Katrina Response Network (KRN).

“We want to continue to lift those cultural elements that we as a people just can’t afford to lose,” KRN member Lurelia Freeman said. One of the reasons KRN exists is to prevent the culture of New Orleans from being lost to our nation. “What does it mean to the culture of this country if we lose New Orleans? New Orleans is the center if blues and jazz, the whole Creole and Cajun culture,” said Freeman.

KRN has strived to keep up the flow of volunteer support to New Orleans in the face of the lack of governmental support group members perceived while in the city. “The only people I saw working down there were volunteers. We don’t see the feds,” Freeman said. Hamline students have put in 7,400 hours of work towards the Katrina response according to Freeman, and KRN hopes to keep up the pace.

KRN is divided into three subcommittees of finance, education, and CSI, and a group coordinating committee which meets Fridays at 3:30 p.m. in the OSLV. They are seeking members at all levels. KRN will show Spike Lee’s film When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts on Wednesday.