The Ku Klux Klan has been dropping off packets containing white supremacist propaganda and free Snickers bars in a recruitment campaign seemingly aimed at children in upstate New York.

Residents of several counties have expressed outrage over the group's targeting in recent months, claiming that the materials have been delivered right around the time that children are heading school.

Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered an investigation into the campaign and called for the state police Hate Crimes Task Force to kick off a 'public awareness campaign' to counter hate on Friday.

Residents in upstate New York claim that the KKK has been targeting children by dropping off packets containing white supremacist propaganda and free Snickers bars

Residents of Westmoreland, which was hit with the materials today, have said they are alarmed that the packets contain recruiting information and not just propaganda.

'They come between 4am and 6am in the morning so the candy bars and packets are at the end of the driveway when kids are getting on the school bus,' Denise Szarek, a member of the Westmoreland Board of Education, told Fox 13.

'The community they hit was a mobile home park so there were a lot of kids in the area, and they hit on some of the side roads, too.

'Our feeling was that the children [were] being targeted — at least the high school and middle school kids in that age group.'

Rod Klopanstein, president of the local historical society, said: 'The KKK is a terrorist organization, and even dropping off these materials itself is terrifying, especially when you find something like this in your driveway in the morning.

'It requires a response, and the only way to get through that fear is to stand up and come together. I think the worst part is that a lot of kids found it on the way to the bus in the morning.'

Szarek speculated that the materials were likely downloaded from the internet by a local resident.

'I mean, it really could be anyone. But I think we're naïve if we think that KKK members aren't here, aren't present in our communities,' she said.

While the group's presence in the community is alarming, Klopfanstein said it does not reflect the community's feelings as a whole.

'We're a good town, we're good people, and when something like this happens, sometimes you have to make a statement to remind people that we won't have this here,' he said.

'Westmoreland stood up to this, and we stood with Rome [a nearby city] the first time they were faced with this. We are all in this together and ready to stand together to keep hate groups out of Central New York.'

Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered an investigation into the campaign on Friday and called for the state police Hate Crimes Task Force to kick off a 'public awareness campaign'

The flyers have been distributed in Oneida and other counties, according to the governor's office.

State police are now offering to assist local officials in blocking the KKK's campaign, sending teams to conduct educational outreach in affected communities.

The new task force is also planning to hold a town hall in Oneida county to discuss the issue.

In a news release Friday, Cuomo said: 'While President Trump and Republicans in Washington sow divisiveness and hate that is spreading like a cancer across the country, in New York we say not here, not now, not ever,' Cuomo said in a news release.

'New York has zero tolerance for intolerance.'

The governor's office has directed state residents who have experienced bias or discrimination and want to file a complaint to report those incidents to the Division of Human Rights toll-free hotline at (888) 392-3644.