We felt a sense of great irony on Halloween as we started writing this editorial.

Families flooded the village sidewalks as costumed children knocked on strangers’ doors to receive candy treats. Halloween is the start of the giving season, a time of trust and sharing — how often do any of us open our doors to strangers and hand out treats?

The irony came because midnight loomed not as a festive witching hour but as the time when, because of the federal government shutdown and the unwillingness of two branches of our government to act, federal benefits that sustain poor people could cease.

About one in eight Americans receive an average of $187 each month to buy food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, formerly called food stamps.

The day before Halloween, our governor, Kathy Hochul, pledged $65 million in state funds to help with food assistance and launched a website to connect New Yorkers in need to food sources.

“This is a moment for our community to rise up and respond to something that can only be described as a moral crisis,” said Hochul in an Oct. 30 press conference after declaring a state of emergency, “because I believe it’s immoral for people to suffer because Republicans will not unleash the food emergency funds that are sitting there.”

On Halloween, our county executive, Daniel McCoy, a Democrat like the governor, held a press conference to urge food donations, outlining needs and places for drop-offs.

Later in the day, our State Education Department put out a release outlining ways the department could help schools support children whose families would not receive their regular benefits.

“We know that students cannot be expected to learn, grow, or reach their full potential when they are hungry ….,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young Jr. in the release. “Together, we will uphold our unwavering commitment to equity, compassion, and opportunity for all.” 

Our Congressman, Paul Tonko, also held a press conference on Halloween with local food pantry leaders calling for the Trump administration to release federal dollars for food assistance in November.

Tonko, a Democrat, said that, on Nov. 1, forty-two million Americans nationwide would lose their benefits and, in his Capital Region district, some 49,000 households would be affected.

“SNAP is vital for our local economy,” Tonko said. In his congressional district, District 20, that comes to roughly $285 million, he said, affecting farmers, truck drivers, grocery workers, warehouse employees, and more. “The damage ripples everywhere,”said Tonko.

He said a contingency fund of $5.2 billion “was established by Congress, bipartisan, bicameral, for such situations as this … All the president needs to do is reach to it.”

The United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the food stamp program, however, said on its website, “If not for Congressional Democrats blocking government funding, November SNAP benefits would be paid on-time.”

By the end of the day, our third branch of government, the courts, once again pulled us back from the brink — for now. Within an hour, two different federal judges in two different cases — one in Rhode Island and the other in Massachusetts — ruled that the Trump administration had acted unlawfully by refusing to tap the emergency reserve Congress had set up earlier to make SNAP payments.

It still remains unclear if the decisions will be appealed, or when the payments will reach people who depend on them for food, or how long payments will last if the federal stalemate continues. On Nov. 3, court filings by the Trump administration said just partial payments would be sent and it was still unclear when people would receive them.

We were moved by a letter to the editor we published on Oct. 30 from Altamont residents Tresa and Jim Matulewicz. They wrote, “On Saturday, Nov. 1, forty-two million people in the United States may not be able to purchase food for an unknown period of time. No matter what ‘side’ you’re on, if sides there must be, it is undeniable that this will be devastating for so many.

“Including members of our community — our friends, families, and neighbors who rely on SNAP and EBT cards to keep themselves and their families fed. No human being should go hungry. Consequently, it is inevitable that cutting off this program will overwhelm essential food pantries that are already struggling to keep their shelves stocked.

“We want to help. We need your help to do just that!”

The Matulewiczes put out a bin for trick-or-treaters to donate food, which they would then take to local pantries.

We believe most of us feel like the Matulewiczes. None of us want to see others go hungry. But charity isn’t enough. As a democracy, we have a government that is meant to look after the needs of the people, all of us.

A veteran who receives SNAP benefits spoke at Tonko’s press conference. “I did not vote for this,” he said. “I voted on the platform to make America great again, make America healthy again … But my beliefs have been shaken to the core because, hey, in a week and a half, I’m going to start being hungry myself.”

The veteran works in outreach for Joseph House, feeding the homeless. He wiped tears from his face as he said, “It’s hard to look into the eyes of someone you love and tell them you have no food for them.”

Even without the government shutdown, he said, “By the third week of the month, we’re short on food.”

He concluded, “We need the government, the people who we vote for and put in place to resolve the problems and to get this crisis stopped before it’s too late. People will starve and die.”

As the United States heads towards autocracy, all of us need to be concerned.

Amartya Kumar Sen, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1998, has given a voice to poor people around the world. Sen was born, raised, and educated in India then later taught in England and since 1988 has taught economics and philosophy at Harvard.

His work is worth reflecting on in our current crisis. One of Sen’s pivotal case studies was on the great famine in Bengal, India in 1943. Sen showed that the famine was caused by an urban economic boom, which raised the cost of food. When the wages of rural workers couldn’t meet the costs, millions of them starved to death.

Why didn’t the government aid the dying workers? Because colonial India was not a democracy, Sen said, the British rulers had no need to be interested in poor people even if they were starving.

This led to Sen’s conclusion: Shortfalls in food supply do not cause widespread deaths in a democracy because vote-seeking politicians will undertake relief efforts; but even modest food shortfalls can create deadly famines in authoritarian societies.

Sen’s work has led to the United Nations Development Program issuing its annual report, featuring a Human Development Index that ranks countries by a combination of three factors: average income, educational attainment, and life expectancy.

The rankings make clear that annual income growth is not enough to achieve development. Societies must pay attention to social goals as well, always leaning toward their most vulnerable citizens, and overcoming deep-rooted biases to invest in the health and well-being of girls as well as boys.

In short, neglecting poor people and women diminishes the society as a whole.

We were struck at Congressman Tonko’s Halloween press conference by the words of women who have devoted their careers to getting food to those who need it. Our government — of the people, by the people and for the people — needs to support that work so that our nation will flourish.

Susan Lintner, who has worked at the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York for over 20 years, reported, “We’ve never said we couldn’t meet the needs of a crisis. But this is beyond our capacity.”

While grateful for the governor’s promise of $65 million, and also for industry and individual contributions, Litner said, “But even after all of these amazing actions, the charitable food system cannot meet the enormous demand that will be sent to all of us tomorrow."

She also said, “Hunger remains a bipartisan issue and requires a bipartisan solution to get us through this crisis.”

Natasha Pernicka, who directs the Food Pantries of the Capital District, said, “This is the United States of America. This is a country where we take care of each other …. I need to say: Red, blue, purple, we are humans first. This is a moral crisis and we need to do the right thing.”

“Hunger should never be a headline,” said Starletta Renée, who leads the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region, based in Troy where the press conference was held. “Right now, families across the Capital Region are scared. They’re checking their EBT cards, counting cans, and wondering how they’ll feed their kids when the system meant to protect them has shut down. This isn’t just politics. It shouldn’t be politics. This is people’s lives.”

Renée said she knew what it’s like to wonder if food could be stretched to the end of the month. “I’ve been there,” she said. “I’ve stood in the lines. I felt like my dignity was being taken.”

Being a SNAP participant, she said, gave her the support she needed to get through one of the hardest chapters of her life as a teen mom. “I stand here today,” Renée said, “as proof that, when you invest in people’s children’s basic needs, they rise.”

She also said, “Our food pantry line has tripled; mothers are crying in our lobbies, seniors are skipping meals so their grandkids can eat.”

She concluded, “This is the holiday season, the season of giving, of community, and love and action. Let’s prove that, when the systems fail, people don’t.”

And so we end where we began. This is a season of giving. Our system of government is democratic. We, the people, must not let it fail.