This article was originally published on Sept. 6, 2005. Read the rest of the Reveille’s Remembering Katrina special here.

An 84-year-old grandmother sat on the sofa in the foyer of the Delta Gamma sorority house this week, blaming Hurricane “Katranka” for her elongated stay at there.

In response to Hurricane Katrina, a few sororities and fraternities around campus have opened their doors to displaced family members and friends. Mixing college students and family members have caused some interesting shake-ups in the normal routines of these houses.

The grandmother of Delta Gamma member Christina Kawash immediately brought comic relief to the circumstances. She had lived through Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Hurricane Camille in 1969 and told stories. She was funny both intentionally and unintentionally, said Lauren Sauzer, senior English major and president of Delta Gamma.

“She is like a long lost cast member from ‘Golden Girls,’” Sauzer said. “She keeps calling it Hurricane ‘Katranka.’”

For the Sigma Chi house, there is a noticeable difference with the families staying.

Beau Bergeron, president of Sigma Chi, said people started coming in the day before Katrina hit and sofas were pulled from the library to sleep on.

Additionally, the house is also serving as a shelter for a 125-pound Rottweiler, two Boston terriers and two dachshunds.

“It’s like a big animal house,” Bergeron said.

The children also staying in the Sigma Chi house were seen playing video games with the students who live in the house.

“There are two really smart kids that know everybody and every room number,” said Bergeron. “They borrow everybody’s Playstation games.”

Bergeron said having families changes the dynamic of the house.

“We have to tiptoe through the house late at night because the families are sleeping,” he said.

One evacuee has even agreed to be the in-house chef at Sigma Chi. Robert Chehardy, a New Orleans resident and relative of Sigma Chi house mother, Lorelle Verges, said he may not be a professional chef but enjoys cooking as a hobby.

“I made them my Mardi Gras roast,” he said. “It’s been wonderful here.”