This year, Radical Alternative Development, a punk nonprofit, is hosting its eighth annual Punks Who Give Benefit For Native Youth Wellness. BriJit Jenkins, one of RAD’s founders, says she started Punks Who Give in 2017 because “I just wanted to start doing more community building in Eugene.” 

Thanksgiving as a holiday is controversial due to its inaccurate depiction of interactions between early colonial settlers and Native Americans. Jenkins says that RAD made Punks Who Give: a Benefit for Native Youth Wellness to make the day about celebrating and supporting Indigenous people in Eugene and beyond.

Jenkins adds that “I always feel like it’s really important to connect with people outside of just standing at a bar or at a show. When loud music is happening, you don’t always get to know the people that you’re seeing.”

Punks Who Give started small, with just around 30 people attending. Now, the event has grown into a massive gathering of over 100 people featuring bands, food, art and more. 

“It’s like reclaiming Thanksgiving, which is a holiday that doesn’t truly represent the appropriate history of America,” Jenkins says. 

Attendees are encouraged to pay at the door — however, no one is turned away for a lack of funds. “We’ve never made a penny off of it, so we just do it because we want to,” Jenkins says. All proceeds go directly to Native Youth Wellness.

This year, Punks Who Give will feature four bands: Gang Violence, Haunting, Wigpeel and Red Sun. “They shred as fuck,” Jenkins says. Local nonprofit Food Not Bombs will provide food. The benefit is a potluck, so bringing food for community meal sharing is welcome.

Punks Who Give is 5 pm Saturday, Nov. 29, at Blairally, 245 Blair Blvd. Admission is $10, but no one is turned away for a lack of funds.