Glocester woman helps add accessible cart to Greenville Stop and Shop

GREENVILLE, R.I. (WLNE) — One Glocester resident said she was making it her mission to spread autism awareness.

Lenora Bonn said that hen she noticed something was missing from her neighborhood grocery store, she made the ask.

“My son E.J. was diagnosed with autism about a year ago,” she said. “He is almost [3-years-old] and I started learning more about autism after he got diagnosed. I didn’t know much about it.”

Bonn shops weekly at the Stop and Shop in Greenville.

The “Caroline’s Cart” is a specially designed shopping cart with a large, secure seat, designed to help caregivers navigate stores with children or adults who have disabilities or limited mobility.

Bonn asked Stop and Shop if they would consider getting one and that same day they ordered one for the store.

“Finding out what it was and seeing how important it was to her, we actually reached out to the office to see if we could get one and it was ordered within the same day,” Customer Services Manager Sean Henry said.

The new cart was added to create more accessibility for all.

“From a perspective of a supermarket, being able to assist her with this and fulfill her needs really means a lot to us,” Henry added.

Even though the Greenville Stop and Shop is Bonn’s first choice store, she aspires to get the Caroline’s Carts in more grocery stores across Rhode Island.

“I don’t know if my son will need it when he is older but I wanted to try to advocate for the special needs community,” Bonn said. “I want to keep trying to do that, even if it’s little tiny things like just making a phone call.”