NEW ORLEANS — Wearing a floor-length pastel striped evening gown, Sandra Bullock walked the red carpet in New Orleans on Thursday for a special premiere of her latest film, “The Blind Side.”

Besides promoting the sports drama, which opened in theaters nationwide on Friday, the event also served as a fundraiser for a New Orleans high school flooded by Hurricane Katrina.

Since the 2005 storm, Bullock has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Warren Easton High School, one of the city’s oldest public schools, which took on 10 feet of water when the levee protection system broke during Katrina.

The donations have been used for renovations, scholarships, new band uniforms and a new health clinic.

“We’re investing in a lot of things that we think need preserving,” said Bullock, who recently bought a mansion in New Orleans’ historic Garden District. “I’m a great supporter of New Orleans and its architecture.”

— From wire reports