November is on the horizon, and with it the prospect that huge swaths of the public may go dangerously hungry. The ongoing government shutdown now threatens the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which more than 42 million Americans rely on to afford basic food needs. “Bottom line, the well has run dry,” said the Trump administration in a message on the website for the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 1.”

With the largest food assistance program in the country now effectively offline for the coming month, millions of people are bracing themselves for deepening food insecurity. This moment arrives amid a surging demand for help that activists and organizers worry will be impossible to meet.

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