Ken Thibault and Annette Star from the Osoyoos Elks Club were at the Buy-Low grocery store in Osoyoos Saturday morning for the club’s fundraising barbecue. Proceeds will go towards the purchase of Caroline’s Cart, which will assist customers at Buy-Low with special needs and mobility issues. The cart is expected to arrive in town before the end of April. (Trevor Nichols photo)
An Osoyoos grocery store will soon become a lot more convenient for customers who have special needs or suffer from a myriad of mobility issues.
That’s because the Osoyoos Elks Club recently partnered with Buy-Low Foods to bring a specially-designed shopping cart to the local grocery store.
The sky was grey, but the burgers and hot dogs were cooked to perfection this past Saturday, as members of the Osoyoos Elks Club dished up grub at a special fundraising barbecue.
The proceeds will be used to bring “Caroline’s Cart” to the grocer.
The fundraising barbecue raised money to help pay for the $1,300 cart, that will be made available to customers who have difficulty walking or moving around.
While the cost of the cart is steep, Ken Thibault, the president of the Osoyoos Elks Club, said it’s well worth the cost.
The cart, he explained, is specially designed to provide parents and caregivers a viable option to transport a child with special needs.
The cart’s built-in seat is sturdy and accessible, letting parents easily strap in their child and avoid the near-impossible task of maneuvering a wheelchair and a traditional cart at the same time.
“For families that have kids with special needs, it’s pretty hard to be shopping with the cart plus then pushing someone around in a wheelchair, so this kind of does the best of both worlds,” he said. “So many times you look in Buy-Low or other stores and there’s carts that look like cars or jeeps for kids that are perfectly abled, but there’s nothing for kids that are disabled, so this fills that void.”
Elks clubs across Canada are aiming to bring the carts to grocery stores in their communities, and those that have already received them can’t stop singing their praises, said Thibault.
Brian Fry, the manager of Buy-Low Foods, said his store was already looking to purchase one of Caroline’s Carts when Thibault approached him, so he was happy to find a local partner to get it here as quickly as possible.
“There a few people around here I know could probably use it,” he said.
Fry said that any initiative that makes his store more accessible to more people is a good one, and hoped that having the cart in his store encourages parents of children with special needs to bring their child shopping.
“Maybe there’s someone with a handicapped child, and maybe they would leave them at home when they go shopping normally, but if they know this is here … they will bring them out into the public a little more,” he said.
Thibault said his club has already ordered the cart, which should arrive by the end of April. Thibault said on Saturday that he was excited for community members to begin using it, but for the moment he remained focused on raising money.
“By the time you get it here it’s about $1,300. So that’s a lot of burgers, but we’re going to do it,” he said with a hearty laugh.
TREVOR NICHOLS
Regional Reporter
