Mother praises grocery store for getting Caroline’s Carts, hopes others will follow suit

A Fergus mother is praising her local grocery store after they reportedly made it easier for her to shop with her young daughter.

Scarlett is four-years-old and has Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental condition that affects the use of some muscles and body movements as well as speech.

“As she’s gotten bigger and taller, shes grown out of the infant seat carrier of a regular grocery cart and it was becoming really challenging,” says Scarlett’s mother, Melody Dekorte. “She can walk right now, but it was a challenge. I couldn’t always hold onto her hand, she might wander off.”

“I’ve only been able to do grocery shopping when I can get someone to look after her, or when shes in school,” said the mother of four.

“Online, I found out about Caroline’s Cart,” says Dekorte. “It’s a great cart that enables a growing child or adult to be able to be strapped safely in while you still do your groceries.”

Dakorte said she approached Walmart several times about getting the carts and says she didn’t get very far. She than spoke to Jeremy, a Fergus Zehrs manager “he was so understanding and just took the time for me.”

“He wrote down my information and he took it from there,” says Dekorte. “I was supposed to follow up with an email, and my life is so crazy I didn’t follow up with an email.”

Despite not following up, Dekorte says a couple weeks later she returned to the grocery store to find not one, but two Caroline’s Carts.

“Jeremy ran with it. He listened to me and my concerns,” says Dekorte. “He went and researched it himself and voila! The cart is in the store now, they purchased two. I went in last Saturday, and we were so happy it felt like Christmas.”

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She says she hopes to see more Caroline’s Carts in stores to benefit other families with children or adults with special needs.

“There’s only 289 stores in all of Canada that have these carts,” says Dekorte. “I’m excited that there’s one in Fergus, but I hope that this spreads awareness for other grocery stores.”

Dekorte says Jeremy went above and beyond by listening to her, researching Caroline’s Carts online, and not making her jump through hoops to get a cart.

“It was such a positive experience and I was just so thankful that the manager just took the time to listen to my concerns and treated me like a human being.”

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