Amidst Government Shutdown and EBT Crisis, Jenny Carrington Keeps Walking for Food Security and Health Solutions

As millions face food uncertainty, innovator Jenny Carrington walks with ground up solutions like the Circular Nutrition Station™ for local nutrition resilience

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, November 11, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- When federal systems stall, community systems must adapt. The current EBT crisis, triggered by the ongoing government shutdown, has highlighted the fragility of the U.S. food safety net. But for Carrington, who has spent years developing programs that help communities grow, cook, and share their own food resources, this moment is also an opportunity to rethink how resilience is built.

“People shouldn’t have to wonder where their next meal is coming from when systems freeze,” she says. “Resilience doesn’t start in Washington — it starts in our neighborhoods, gardens, and schools.”

As founder of Earth SCHOOL™, Carrington has led educational and nutrition-based initiatives in the U.S., Canada, Kenya, Pakistan, and beyond. Her programs teach children how to grow food, compost, and understand where nourishment really comes from — skills that, in a crisis, become survival tools as much as environmental lessons.

Unlike traditional nonprofits or brick-and-morter schools, Earth SCHOOL™ adapts to each region, working with available ecological and cultural resources. “Children already understand how to care for what they love,” Carrington explains. “Our job is to give them space and knowledge to grow that love into action.”

Her Earth SMART™ accreditation standards extend this model to businesses, schools, and local governments — helping them adopt regenerative practices that connect wellness, nutrition, and environmental care. These frameworks allow restaurants, developers, and hospitality teams to contribute to food-security systems that don’t depend on fragile state and federal programs.

“The shutdown has shown us what happens when access depends on politics instead of people,” Carrington says. “We need models that keep food and health flowing, even when systems pause.”

Carrington’s Circular Nutrition Station™ — a scalable framework for communities to share surplus food, reduce waste, and promote local health education — offers a direct response to EBT interruptions. The stations act as local food hubs, blending gardening, technology, superfood nutrition education, and circular economy principles. Each station provides pathways for residents to contribute — whether by sharing produce, compost, or time — ensuring that food access remains communal and resilient. They are currently being piloted primarily in Nairobi, Kenya — with the goal to bridge the lessons in a peer-to-peer format to the other Earth SCHOOL™ locations and sites.

Beyond domestic impact, the model also holds humanitarian potential. Carrington believes the same circular framework could help shape how crisis nutrition aid is delivered with longevity in mind in conflict-affected regions such as Ukraine, Syria, and Gaza, offering NGOs and governments a way to improve systems efficiency, reduce dependency, and extend the longevity of relief by embedding local production and regenerative practices into aid cycles.

Carrington also advocates for a shift from what she calls “traveled food” — items shipped across continents — to “less-traveled” or “non-traveled” food grown and distributed locally. This model not only strengthens community nutrition networks but serves as a built-in mitigation strategy against disruptions in the global food web.

Carrington’s personal journey gives her message credibility. Having walked across America coast-to-coast unassisted between 2019-2020— one of the few women to do so — she uses walking as both metaphor and method. “Movement creates connection,” she says. “When we move — literally or collectively — we regenerate energy and rebuild trust in each other.”

Her philosophy, which she discovered as “regenerative culture,” replaces the language of crisis with that of capacity. “We talk about sustainability like we’re trying not to lose ground,” she explains. “Regeneration means we’re actually building ground — building capacity, relationships, and nourishment.”

As food insecurity rises amid stalled government programs, Carrington’s message is clear: real resilience starts from shared purpose.

“Every mile food doesn’t travel builds a local defense,” she says. “Walking between villages in Crete showed me that local food isn’t just fresh — it’s risk mitigation in motion.”

It doesn't have to be walking mountains to move mountains together. Instead, she invites the public to take the journey with her one-step-at-a-time.

“I walk for good vibes
Clean skies.
Happy kids.
Real food.
Unity in the Community —

For nourishing connections and a life worth living,” she says.
“This is why I walk.”

Looking ahead, Carrington envisions a network of Earth SCHOOL™ programs, Earth SMART™ standards, and Circular Nutrition Stations™ supporting communities long before the next crisis arrives. “The solutions are already here,” she reminds us. “The shift happens when we choose to see them — and act on them together.”

Karla Silva
GTI Enterprises
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