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Caroline's Cart, a Shopping Cart for Special Needs Individuals and Caregivers

By Rain Noe - September 23

in Social Impact

For lone caregivers of special needs kids and adults, shopping for groceries can be difficult; pushing both a wheelchair and a shopping cart is impractical. Enter this Caroline's Cart, developed by Drew Ann Long, an entrepreneur and mom of a special needs daughter. Long came up with the idea when she realized her daughter would outgrow a standard shopping cart.

They're designed to avoid pinch points, feature large fixed handles and have extra wheels for better weight distribution. The seat can support an individual of up to 250 pounds.

Long first got them into production in 2012, by North-Carolina-based manufacturer Wanzl Technibilt. She's recently scored a major win: Walmart will be ordering roughly 8,000 units and says they'll have them in every one of their stores by next year.