‘House music is therapy’: Nonprofit Hug Don’t Shoot brings the beats to its annual back-to-school giveaway party

A heady pulse of dance beats led Roosevelt Brown to park his car on his journey home through Clifton Park on Sunday afternoon. The thumping music, a fast-paced mixture of disco and soul, drifted from a park stage where six DJs spun records as part of an annual event hosted by Hug Don’t Shoot, a nonprofit run by Val Jenkins. Brown stopped to check out the scene at the “Christmas in July Music Fest” back-to-school giveaway and continued his trip home to Broadway East with a bag of nonperishable food and toys for his granddaughter.