The Cats for Katrina relief luncheon held Thursday afternoon in the Student Union Memorial Center raised more than $5,000 to be donated to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, organizers said.

Three hundred luncheon tickets were sold at $10 apiece, exceeding previous expectations of selling at least 150 tickets, organizers said.

An additional 480 raffle tickets were also sold at $5 each, raising the total donation to $5,400, said Steve Adamczyk, a UA attorney and one of the organizers of the event.

The money raised was donated to Tucson-based charity World Care and will go to help rebuild the homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, Adamczyk said.

Winners of the raffle received sports memorabilia, including a shirt autographed by Steve Kerr, a signed Chris Rogers jersey and several tickets to the UA home football games.

"It was quite an exciting event," Adamczyk said. "Pretty much all the tables were full."

Adamczyk said people were excited to attend the luncheon, adding that "people were lining up early to get inside."

The luncheon was not event-sponsored or organized by the UA itself, but by individuals who work at the university like President Peter Likins, Senior Vice President for Campus Life Saundra Taylor, Hassan Hijazi, the assistant director for federal relations and himself, Adamczyk said.