The Winter Outerwear Handout in Lake Placid took place Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Adirondack Community Church. (Photo provided)

LAKE PLACID — A Winter Outerwear Handout is slated for Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6-7, at the Adirondack Community Church. Organizers are preparing for an increase in families needing winter clothing this year due to economic strain in the region, according to co-organizer Zach Clark.

“We feel there is going to be a lot more demand because of the COVID and a lot of people not working,” Clark said Friday morning.

The free clothing drive is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Friday and 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the church. Look for the entrance with the large “Outerwear Handout” sign.

This clothing drive helps more than 100 families looking to bundle up for the winter. Last year, it helped 135 families. In 2017, it was as high as 175 families. Items include boots, socks, jackets, gloves and hats — “everything you would need to survive in 10 months of winter (in the Adirondacks),” said Clark, who co-organizes the annual drive with Tara Wright.

Clark, Wright and other volunteers spent Thursday evening preparing for the clothing drive at the church. They included Heather Perkins, Bridget McKillip and Tracey Coolidge from the Gordon W. Pratt Agency, and Jacob Wright and other volunteers from Skyward Hospitality and the new Saranac Waterfront Lodge in Saranac Lake.

Volunteers prepare Thursday, evening, Nov. 5, for the annual Winter Outerwear Handout in Lake Placid, which takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 and 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Adirondack Community Church. (Photo provided)

Thanks to extra donations, there are more clothing items than in the past. Anyone interested in donating clothes can contact Clark by email at emmadelyn6@yahoo.com. If they can’t be used for this year’s Winter Outerwear Handout, he can help people get in touch with future clothing drives, such as the North Elba Christmas Fund, which takes place in December.