Hip-hop event raising cash for needy Indians

Local hip-hop groups are gathering in Minneapolis on Saturday to raise money to help American Indians who are homeless or have substance abuse problems.

Organizers of the free concert are asking people who come to bring warm clothes and nonperishable food items for donation.

Paul Wenell Jr. of the hip-hop group Point of Contact said he believes all American Indians are, to some extent, related. Wenell says this concert will allow him to help his relatives.

"It will make the presence of the native community known," he said, "and kind of create that feeling of hospitality, to reach out on behalf of the native community and welcome everybody, the general public, into the Minneapolis American Indian Center."

The show was scheduled to run from 2 to 11 p.m. at the American Indian Center on East Franklin Avenue.