Although it has been more than a year since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast, the need remains monumental for pro bono legal services, research support and advocacy for displaced residents.

The Illinois Bar Foundation has joined SHN Illinois Coalition, a regional affiliate of the Student Hurricane Network, to accept and distribute financial contributions in support of volunteer efforts by law students during winter and spring breaks.

The Illinois coalition is coordinated by students at six law schools: John Marshall, Chicago-Kent, University of Illinois, De--Paul University, Loyola University and Northwestern University.

Student representatives are Sarah Simonson at John Marshall, Joel Roberson and Susan Clark at Chicago-Kent, Austin Kaplan at Illinois, Kayleigh Van Poolen and Ryann Zalewski at DePaul, Melissa Beckman at Loyola, and Sarah Burtiss at Northwestern.

Their immediate project is an en masse trip to New Orleans in January to provide advocacy and community rebuilding services. They hope to repeat the effort in March.

Charitable support from members of the Illinois bench and bar and other sources will determine how many students may be able to participate.

A Silver Level contribution of $250 will cover housing and food for one law student. A Gold Level contribution of $500 will cover transportation in addition to housing and food for one law student.

At the Platinum Level, a gift of $1,000 will allow two law students to receive housing, food and transportation.

Last year, the five Illinois law schools joined 80 others from around the country in a spontaneous, independent effort to send students to the stricken areas.

From that beginning, the Student Hur-ricane Network was established entirely by students to pool resources and avoid making multiple contacts with the same donors.

In Illinois, the Bar Foundation agreed to act as the fiscal sponsor to facilitate the process of handling donations on a tax-deductible basis.

Checks should be made out to Illinois Bar Foundation, with Student Hurricane Network added to the memo field. They should be mailed to Illinois Bar Foundation – Student Hurricane Network, Suite 910, 20 S. Clark St., Chicago, Ill. 60603.