After Hurricane Katrina, Sandra Bullock helped rebuild a New Orleans school; in 2010, she helped fund its $700,000 medical and dental clinic, designed to provide free healthcare to students

Sandra Bullock has an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and, in 2010 and again in 2014, was ranked as the highest-paid actress in the world. Ask her where her money did the most good, and the answer is not a film deal.It is a flooded high school in New Orleans. Bullock has backed Warren Easton Charter High School since 2006, months after Hurricane Katrina shut its doors. It was one of the best investments she ever made. No wonder she was an honorary member of the Warren Easton Hall of Fame in 2009. She had every right to be there. Her efforts in rebuilding the school post-Katrina were notable.

The flood closed the school doors

Katrina closed the school’s building and left about $4 million in damage. In Mid-City, Warren Easton, one of the oldest public high schools in Louisiana, was on the verge of shutting down. Local officials considered closing it. Alumni, students and faculty raised private funds to reopen it as a charter school.Sandra Bullock had a personal connection with New Orleans. Her adopted son was born in the city, and so she hoped to rescue the school. The slow response from the government also made her help necessary.The giving came in pieces: band uniforms, athletic lockers, college scholarships, leadership seminars, audio and video equipment, and part of the bill for a renovated auditorium, according to the Allstate Sugar Bowl committee that honoured her in 2010. Her total contribution has never been made public. ‘My contributions to Warren Easton are the best investments I’ve ever made,’ Bullock later said.‘I just write the checks,’ the actress said in 2009. She also lent her name. Ahead of The Blind Side‘s release, she and Warner Bros. hosted a New Orleans premiere to raise money for the school.Without Bullock, the recovery would not have been this fast, Easton’s principal, Alexina Medley, told the Associated Press. ‘We would not have returned as soon as we did. She’s come to our rescue several times, and in a pinch, she’s definitely helped us out.’

Sandra Bullock opens a health clinic in New Orleans

In August 2010, during the fifth anniversary of Katrina’s landfall, Sandra Bullock’s efforts helped open a health clinic in New Orleans. The $700,000 medical and dental clinic received major funding from the Kellogg Foundation, the San Francisco 49ers Foundation and Bullock, though it is unclear how much of it was hers. As always, she chose to keep her contributions private. The clinic was intended to bring healthcare services to students in a part of the city that had struggled to regain access to doctors and dentists after the hurricane. Those without insurance were among the beneficiaries of the programme.Bullock steered the day towards celebration, acknowledging the date could be hard for some. ‘We’re here to celebrate an anniversary and though that might be hard for some, I choose to emphasise the word ‘celebrate’. Sometimes tragedies bring out the very best in people and it’s one of the reasons why we stand in this school of excellence today,’ Bullock told the hundreds of attendees gathered in the auditorium. The clinic opened in autumn and provided services ranging from flu shots to emergency care. The community was in urgent need of such a clinic. ‘It will definitely help those students who don’t have insurance. I think there should be these types of facilities in all the schools,’ Janell Batiste, who had a daughter at Easton, said at the time.The clinic was only an entry in a long ledger. In 2012, Bullock gave $25,000 to the school. In January 2013, the People’s Choice Awards named her its first Favorite Humanitarian, citing her commitment to Easton. In 2014, when she spoke at the school’s commencement, she pledged to match donations to the Hall of Fame scholarship campaign for graduating seniors. ‘Every time they walk under that roof, they know they’re cared for,’ she told the students. Bullock’s commitment to the school didn’t end there. In 2018, the actress participated in a fundraiser for the school. In addition to making a $5,000 personal donation, she said she would match the next $50,000 raised.‘I will match the next 50 thousand dollars! Let’s take care of our future!’ she wrote on the fundraising page. Sandra Bullock made the donation in honour of her late mother, Helga, a German opera singer who died in 2000. In 2020, WGNO named her among the major donors behind $120,000 in scholarships for 41 students. Her contributions to the welfare of the school continue.