The start of the holiday season is traditionally a time that people become aware of the need to give to others.
The food collection bins for Project Feed the Thousands showed up earlier this month at local grocery stores.
The two biggest food shelves in Windham County, Our Place in Bellows Falls and the Groundworks Drop-In Center, are distributing food nearly as fast as they receive donations.
And year after year, Deerfield Valley Food Pantry, the Townshend Community Food Shelf and churches such as Community Bible Chapel in Brattleboro and the Second Congregational Church in Londonderry are gearing up for another challenging winter.
The Windham County Heat Fund also continues this year and the Reformer Christmas Stocking has distributed winter clothing to local children in need - the last time this venerable, much-beloved, and effective program will do so. With a consortium of other nonprofits joining in the effort, the United Way will launch a new fund later this month to continue providing for the kids in the region.
Warm Hands Warm Hearts, the Masons' annual project that collects used winter clothing, blankets, and sleeping bags, is also about to begin.
And with the arrival of cold weather, the Groundworks Seasonal Overflow Shelter at the First Baptist Church has opened for the season, as has the Greater Falls Warming Shelter in Walpole.
It's good that so many organizations in our area are helping people as we emerge from one of the bleakest economic times in decades, and we encourage our readers to support these efforts.
But private charity can only go so far in dealing with a government that has failed too many of our fellow citizens.
Listening to the members of Congress, we can hear that providing help and hope for people in need is not a high priority. And, given the ongoing financial woes in Montpelier, we can't expect state government to pick up the slack.
But it is time we asked the following questions of our state and federal representatives:
• With nearly 1 in 5 adult Americans either unemployed, underemployed, or having given up looking for work entirely, why is there so little willingness to deal with chronic joblessness?
• Is the fear of raising taxes or increasing deficits more worrisome than dealing with the human costs of our broken economy?
• If we truly are a compassionate people, why are the demands of the haves being put ahead of the needs of the have-nots?
It is right to think of those in need during the holidays, but poverty and joblessness are with us 24/7. We can't solve the long-term economic problems of our nation with holiday alms-giving. We can only solve our endemic problems with a commitment to creating a just and fair economy for all.