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AnimeFEST - Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts in Dallas - 2005 Page 1 of 2   Next Page AnimeFEST was not an event where fans could escape the real world. That was driven home when fans arrived at the Hyatt Regency Reunion, home to the convention, and spotted the fire rescue units outside. The trucks belonged to firefighters and rescue squad members from Southern California and Nevada. Two months earlier, this site had traveled to Orange County, Caifornia for Anime Expo, and on the Labor Day weekend, fire rescuers from that area were in Dallas, waiting for the order to move to the Gulf Coast and rescue people in need from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Their tools were search dogs of several breeds, ready to head in with their handlers to places where no one knew what to expect. But many of the people who needed a different kind of help were just down the street from the anime convention's hotel. The Reunion Arena is one block south of the Hyatt, and the place that was once Dallas' premiere indoor sports facility was being used as a shelter for those flooded out of their New Orleans homes by the hurricane. The scene at the Dallas arena was far more peaceful than at the Louisiana Superdome, where filth and chaos regned. No one was joyful at being in Dallas, but there was no violence or lawlessness for the hurricane's victims in Texas; police and the Red Cross saw to that. Page 1 of 2   Next Page AnimeFEST Main Page