SARANAC LAKE — It’s a concert, it’s a dinner, it’s a fundraiser, it’s a party. It’s all of those things and it’s happening on Saturday. The Neighbor to Neighbor party will kick off at the Harrietstown Town Hall Saturday evening, featuring local bands, local food and local beer to raise money to help locals struggling to pay rent and heating bills this winter.

The event is being put on by the Saranac Lake Kiwanis Club to benefit the Ecumenical Council of Saranac Lake, which operates a heating and rent fund and takes referrals from local churches and fuel companies for people who could use some heat help.

To contact Rich Loeber at the Ecumenical Council, call 518-897-5005 or email slecumenical@gmail.com.

Tickets for Neighbor to Neighbor cost $12 and are on sale at Ampersound and the Book Nook.

“It’s an inexpensive but fun night out,” event organizer Dan Reilly said. And it supports a good cause.

Children under 10 are free. Tickets can also be purchased online at tinyurl.com/522x3y26, but cost $15 because of processing fees.

Neighbor to Neighbor is a spiritual successor to the Heat-A-Palooza event held in 2014. Back then, Brian McDonnell heard a story on North Country Public Radio about Martha Gallagher, a harpist living in Keene who was struggling to afford heating her house and began crowdfunding as a last resort. It was a cold winter and he said there was a surplus of chopped wood at Paul Smith’s College where he worked.

McDonnell contacted Reilly, who owned the Saranac Lake-based HomEnergy fuel company at the time, and they decided to have a concert to support locals grappling with high fuel oil prices. Gallagher even played at the concert.

Gallagher said in a comment on a Kiwanis’ social media post about the event that she’s glad her story from around 10 years ago has brought attention to the many people silently struggling with heat insecurity. It’s a sensitive thing to admit to, she said. Though the attention also brought out social media “trolls” ready to kick them when they’re down, she said the generous, loving, caring people who came out vastly outweighed them.

“There should not be any shame around struggling to make ends meet — it happens,” she wrote. “That time provided the most incredible life experience that, while painful, so affirmed the idea that ‘most people are good.'”

Heat-A-Palooza raised enough money and wood and pellet donations to last four years, and Reilly said people still donate to the Ecumenical Council’s Emergency Assistance Fund at slecumenical.org/donations.

McDonnell said it’s “terrific” to see the event making a return more than a decade after its inception.

“We decided to do it again because things are so expensive right now,” Reilly said. “And getting more expensive.”

He said heating oil used to not cost as much as gasoline, since it’s less costly to make.

“They’re happily running to the bank with the money now,” Reilly said. “Each thing that becomes more expensive just adds up.”

On Tuesday, the state Energy Research and Development Authority showed that a gallon of heating oil costs on average $3.70 in the North Country. March heating oil prices in the North Country were less than a dollar before the turn of the millennium, and have been on a steady rise ever since, with extreme jumps around the Iraq War and during the coronavirus pandemic. So far this winter, this year’s average heating oil price in the North Country is slightly less than last year’s.

There are programs like the Home Energy Assistance Program, a federally funded program operated through the state and counties. But it’s never enough. HEAP in New York ran out of money in early February this year. Reilly said HEAP usually runs out of money around this time of year, but can appropriate more. This year, $360 million was distributed through HEAP. County agencies stopped taking HEAP applications in early February, leaving applications only open for emergency situations — low-income customers who are facing shut-offs or have less than 10 days of fuel.

Neighbor to Neighbor runs from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday and has a slate of local music legends to keep the dance floor lively — Keith Gorgas, Rustic Riders, Jeffery Wanzer Dupra, Holy Donuts, The Allen’s, Bittersweeter and the Darkside Skinny Dippers.

Sanny Yelle’s Vestopia Hoops will bring hula hoops, Scott Eichholz will be making balloon animals and there will be face painting. There will be food from the Belvedere restaurant and beer and wine from the Hex and Hop brewery.

Reilly said they’ll even have tablecloths and little candles to create a classy club atmosphere.

Reilly wants to make this an annual event, but the Kiwanis Club numbers are down. They need more volunteers, he said. There’s a volunteer shortage around the area, but he said it doesn’t take much time to help the Kiwanis help their neighbors — as little as 10 to 12 hours a year. They just need people to pitch in, he said — whether that’s buying clothes for the foster children they support, bike helmets for their annual bike rodeo in the spring or helping set up or tear down for events.

To help out with Neighbor to Neighbor, email dansaranac@outlook.com.