September 11, 2025 • 31 mins
What happens when a mother's necessity becomes a worldwide movement? Drew Ann Long never set out to change retail shopping forever—she simply needed a way to shop with her severely disabled daughter Caroline. When she discovered no shopping carts existed for individuals with special needs, she faced a choice: accept the limitations or create something revolutionary.
Drew Ann's journey from sketching a cart design at her dining room table to securing international distribution reveals the extraordinary challenges faced by innovators working outside traditional corporate pathways. Despite emptying retirement accounts and facing rejection from every major shopping cart manufacturer, her persistence never wavered. "Anybody can point out a problem," she explains, "but who's going to throw their body on the grenade?"
The power of social media became her unexpected ally, connecting her with thousands of families facing identical struggles. Her strategic placement of just 88 carts across the country sparked a grassroots revolution, with families demanding access and threatening public shaming of retailers who wouldn't provide it. The result? Caroline's Cart now stands in every Walmart, Target, and Lowe's nationwide, serving not only the disabled community but also becoming an essential tool for families with autistic children and seniors who cannot safely operate electric scooters.
Beyond creating a product, Drew Ann built a movement that recognized the purchasing power and essential needs of what she calls "the world's largest minority group." Through her nonprofit Caroline's Cause, she now provides scholarships to families raising both special needs and typical children, completing a circle of advocacy that began with a simple need to shop with her daughter.
Discover how one mother's refusal to accept limitations transformed retail accessibility worldwide and created new possibilities for millions of families previously forced to choose between staying home or facing impossible shopping experiences.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, hello and welcome back to the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I've got a very special guestwith me today.
Her name is Drew Ann Long andshe is the founder of Caroline's
Cart, and it is really the onlyshopping cart available for
special needs projects, andwe're going to learn a lot today
(00:25):
about a feature you know.
More and more we talk abouttechnology and applications and
things that sort of strayoutside my original vision with
this podcast, which was, youknow, healing techniques and
things like that.
But it turns out we live in2025, and there's all sorts of
tools and resources that canhelp people that have
(00:49):
compromised situations in thisworld.
And, without any further ado,welcome to the show, thanks.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Excited, happy to be here.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Beautiful.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about yourself and
Caroline's cart, and I'm sointerested to be here.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Beautiful.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about yourself and
Caroline's cart, and I'm sointerested to learn here.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hey, thanks.
I'm a married mom of three.
I live in Alabama.
I have three adult children now, but back in the day when my
children were young, I shoppedoften and I have a severely
disabled child.
My middle child, named Carolineexcuse me was born with severe
disabilities, genetic, lifelong.
(01:31):
Doesn't walk or talk, never has, never will.
She's now almost 25.
And I found myself, you know,shopping all the time and I
would use the shopping cartsthat retailers provided Lots of
options fun carts, fire trucks,all the things for the toddlers
and I used those.
And when she outgrew those Iwent to my store manager and I
(01:53):
said hey, we're in small townAlabama.
I'm sure there is a specialtyshopping cart.
Would you mind buying it for me?
My husband traveled for aliving and I got to bring her in
and it was just too difficultto bring her wheelchair in my
other kids and pulling theshopping cart and I'm like there
has to be a special needsshopping cart.
(02:14):
Well, lo and behold, there wasnot a special needs shopping
cart.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I was really just shocked, and I thought the
special needs population is theworld's largest minority group.
We are in retails, pharmacies,all the time.
Our children have health issues.
Why is there not a specialneeds shopping cart?
And thus, 15 years ago, beganmy journey to change the status
(02:42):
quo.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
So this is an actual physical shopping cart.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yes, here's a picture of it, right here.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Oh, in my mind this was some sort of an application
thing.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
So you, know it's a physical product right here and
you can see it when you go out.
I mean, we are everywhere.
Here's the backside of it.
It's just, you know, it's justa larger seat for the older
child and adult and senior adultthat you know might have
dementia and cannot drive theelectric scooters.
(03:15):
It's a very simple design, avery simple product that is now
in every single Walmart in thenation, no kidding,
congratulations, good job.
Last year I was flown out toBentonville, arkansas.
Walmart had said no for yearsand years and years.
(03:36):
But last year, in 2024, walmartdid a nationwide rollout of
Caroline's Cart into everysingle super center and
neighborhood market in theUnited States.
So they're kept right in thefront of the store.
If you see the wheelchairs andthe electric scooters, you will
(03:59):
now see several of these fortheir special needs customers.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Now I don't spend a whole lot of time at Walmart,
but I'm going to go down thereto our local one and I'm going
to go and shoot a picture of one.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
You will see it.
We're also in every Targetnationwide, every Lowe's Home
Improvement nationwide.
If you have Lowe's near you,yeah, we do.
We have all those, yeah.
So yeah, if you have Lowe'snear you, yeah, we do we have
all those yeah?
So yeah, we're there, you cansee it.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I'll do a local audit for you and let you know what I
find.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Awesome.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That is amazing.
So now this is a completelydifferent conversation than I
thought we were going to behaving.
I thought this was some sort ofan electronic cart thing and my
mind had gone to a totallydifferent direction.
So now that I understand whatwe're dealing with, how did you
go from an idea to manufacturing, to distribution?
(04:58):
I mean, this is like a wholelife.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, okay, so let me set the scene.
You know, I have a collegedegree in business, I worked in
accounting, had my threechildren.
Life was great.
When my middle child was aroundthree, I realized, with her
severe disabilities, I was goingto have to quit.
So I found myself astay-at-home mom with three
littles and needing a productthat did not exist.
(05:24):
So I drew it on a piece ofpaper and I took my idea.
There's four shopping cartmanufacturers in the United
States.
I took my drawing to all four.
I didn't want money, I didn'twant to do it.
I wanted them to do it.
I didn't have time, I didn'tknow how.
They all dismissed me, saidthere wasn't a need.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
So oh yeah, how does that even come about, you know?
Oh yeah, wow.
We've got a gigantic disabilityproblem in the United States,
from veterans to, like you said,all the way to dementia and
everything in between.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
World's largest minority group.
They just they weren'tlistening.
They dismissed me.
Had they walked 24 hours in myshoes, they would have snagged
it.
So here I am with this ideathat no one wanted, but I
believed in it enough to try tomake a go of it.
So you know, it took me yearsand years to get off the ground.
Why is that?
Because I didn't have theluxury of going to an office.
(06:27):
I was a mom first.
I had to do this when my kidsnapped, when my kids went to bed
, and just try to figure it out,I'm like, okay, so how do I get
this off of a piece of paperinto a physical product?
So yeah, it was years and yearsof work.
I finally got my firstprototype.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
A firm in Indiana built it for me.
It was $28,000 and you couldn'tsit in it.
I had it in my dining room fromscratch, but on such a small
scale that I know for somebodylike if I wanted to get a piece
of equipment made unless I had afabricator that it was simple
(07:12):
enough.
They could just, you know, benda piece of steel for me or
something it's.
It's, it's a project.
So you found some sort of a ofa fabricator and you were able
to give this design to.
They were able to understand itwell enough to do something for
you.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I drew it on paper.
They took it from paper to anactual physical cart.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Got it and that cost you $28,000 out of your pocket.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Out of my pocket.
Now our savings is gone.
I drove up to Indianapolis.
I picked it up, loaded it inthe back, took all the seats out
of my minivan, brought it home,took pictures of it in my
dining room and started socialmedia.
If it was not for social media,we wouldn't be having this
conversation today, because itwas the only avenue I had.
(08:00):
I was not corporate America.
Corporate America should havedone this.
I took it to them.
They shot it down, so createdsocial media, and the instant I
went to social media, I had andI am not kidding thousands of
emails.
Week one asking me where theycould shop with this cart,
(08:28):
really.
Week one asking me where theycould shop with this cart
because, oh, it just explodedweek one.
I'm like, oh my goodness, I onlyhave a prototype in my problem
yeah now I had a differentproblem, but, but, but I needed
that community, that grassrootseffort.
That is what number onereassured me that this was a
need, that this was not crazy.
(08:51):
I knew that it wasn't, but Ineeded this grassroots momentum
and effort and support frompeople all over the world who
are wanting the shopping cart.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Well, and it's more than just a need.
So there's two elements to this, because I deal with people
that have real needs but there'snot an understanding of there's
a solution available, and so Toget that message, social media
can be very instrumental in that, because people are paying
attention to social media.
(09:21):
Right, I'm not that good atsocial media, so even though I
throw things up there, itdoesn't get grabbed the way.
But you had a particular typeof product that reached a
particular audience that theywere able to embrace your idea
in a meaningful way, becausethere was nothing out there that
represented nothing nothingit's.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
It's one of a kind so after, you know, after I've
created this demand, I'm inpanic mode thinking how in the
world now I need a manufacturer.
But all the manufacturers toldme no right so once I had my uh
first prototype, I drove it I'mlike, okay, there's four.
That told me, no, I'm going tonarrow it down to one.
So I went to the largest, thebest.
(10:03):
The biggest it's in NorthCarolina.
Every shopping cart you've evertouched comes out of North
Carolina.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
All right yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Fun fact, now you know.
So now I took my prototype toNorth Carolina and I'm like I'm
back.
So this is trip number two.
Showed them my product.
They told me no a second time.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Nice, of course.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Cried all the way home.
Right, I'm like, well, this isgoing to be dead if I don't have
I mean, I have to have amanufacturer, Right?
So it took me another yearabout to hunt and peck and work
on this from the ballpark, fromthe hospital room, from, you
know, I had little kids andagain, I'm doing this when I can
in my, in my, in my spare time.
I'm not corporate America.
(10:44):
So I found a shopping cart man.
Well, no, no, no.
I found a manufacturer inGeorgia that made the lumber
carts for Lowe's, If you ever goget the big.
You know big he's like okay, Ithis is kind of, this is in my
wheelhouse, but not in mywheelhouse.
I'll make you 100 carts.
Really 100 cost me $100,000.
(11:07):
Holy cow.
So, Wow.
Have no money.
My husband and I had to go toour retirement, our 401k, which
you are told to never, ever,ever, ever touch that.
But we didn't have a choice.
It was either fund this withour retirement or it was not
going it was not going to happen.
(11:27):
So that's what we did.
I took the biggest risk that Imean I didn't think I was a risk
taker, but I became theultimate risk taker.
So I had 100 carts.
I like, what am I going to dowith these 100 carts?
Now, mind you, I've got patents.
I mean, I've got patent fees,patent attorneys, all the things
.
So you know, I'm well more intodebt than $100,000.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Overall, I would say yeah, I know Patents can be very
expensive.
And then there's a giantproblem with patent attorneys.
Sometimes they steal your idea.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh yeah, well, they didn't steal mine.
I was blessed with that, but Iam hundreds of thousands of
dollars into debt grading our401K.
So now I have 100 carts.
I go to Walmart Target all thebig dogs and I show them my
product and I tell them aboutthem.
They won't buy it from me.
They said we only buy from theshopping cart manufacturer in
(12:23):
North Carolina, Of course, andI'm I didn't have the guts to
tell them.
They told me no twice.
I said oh great.
So cry for a couple of months.
I'm like, okay, I've now havespent our entire retirement and
no one will buy this.
So I had to go a differentroute, and that route was the
(12:47):
smaller, locally owned mom andpop stores is what I call them.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
So the ones that don't have the bureaucracy that
really no one's ever heard of.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Right, so Don't necessarily care about that.
One company in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
That's right.
That's right so well.
They actually did buy thoseshopping carts from North
Carolina, but they also took achance on me.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Well, they didn't have a contract that said we're
going to only buy it from you.
That's right, that's right,that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's right.
So I literally got a map outand I thought well, I need to
seed the market with these 100carts.
Let me back up there was only88 carts because there was a
fire at the manufacturer.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, of course there was Of course there was.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I got none of my money back for those 12 carts,
which was critical.
That's a whole other story but.
I now have 88 carts that I needto seed the market with, so I
didn't want to seed the marketonly in Alabama.
88 carts that I need to seedthe market with.
So I didn't want to seed themarket only in Alabama.
I needed this to be anationwide, grassroots movement.
So I literally looked up momand pop stores all over the
(13:48):
nation and my first sale was inSunset Foods, a locally owned
mom and pop store that has fivechains in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
That was sale number one it's a long way from North
Carolina.
What's that?
I said that's a long way fromhome.
Yeah Well, and I'm in Alabama,right, that's right, right.
Right, I'm in Alabama, so salenumber one that's even longer
away from Alabama.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Right, right.
So once I got that one cartcart number one in Sun foods I
go to social media and I'm like,if you have special needs or
senior adults here, go, go tothis location yeah and take
pictures and post that was cartnumber.
That was cart number one sothen, cart number two, I believe
(14:32):
, was michigan, cart numberthree, I believe, was maybe out
west.
So it took me about a year toseed the market with the 88
carts.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So let me ask you this how much did you sell these
carts for?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I believe back in the early days they were around
$900.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So you sold it for cheaper than it cost you to buy
it for, oh 100%.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Oh, I made no money on this for-.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
No, no, I get it.
I just want to make sure thelisteners understand.
Oh yeah, it was what you'regoing through because I it there
, I do, I'm I.
I create things from scratch aswell, and I know all the yeah,
the, the, the heartbreak andlosses, everything that you deal
with, and most of the timenothing comes of it.
But when you're persistent likeyou are and you got that dream
(15:18):
and the vision and the drive, we, we can make anything happen.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
You're showing that Well, none of this made sense
financially, I mean we werelosing money every single month.
You know we just if it wasn'tfor our 401k, you know.
I didn't work.
My husband, you know, myhusband was traveling and
working and everything wefunneled into this cart.
So after about a year I had 88carts strategically placed
(15:41):
throughout the United States.
The rumble has started People.
I mean it's growing.
I mean it took 88 carts.
It's growing on social mediait's growing.
It's growing.
About a year and a half I'msitting at this exact same
dining room table and my phonerings and it said North Carolina
(16:02):
.
I only know one person in NorthCarolina and that was a
shopping cart manufacturer thattold me no twice.
I answered the phone and theysaid okay, we've got Walmart and
Target and all the big dogscalling us saying we have rogue
(16:23):
moms threatening that if we donot get it was awesome, it was
epic, oh my God Saying if wedon't get Caroline's cart,
they're going to get the localTV station out here and they are
going to publicly shame us.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They said come up, it's time to talk.
My third trip to North Carolina.
I got a manufacturing, aninternational manufacturing
contract.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Holy cow.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's how it happened.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Wow, I am blown away.
Like that is true grassrootsall happening without even your
direction, like you weren'ttelling these people to do this,
they were just doing it, right?
Wow?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It just proves the need.
You know, anybody can point.
Let me just say this to allyour listeners it's very, very
easy to point out a problem.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Oh yeah, I talk about that all the time.
Anybody can do that yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Who's going to throw?
My husband always says anybodycan throw the grenade, but who's
going to throw their body onthe grenade?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Exactly.
I share so many commonexperiences with you on totally
different wavelengths andtotally different things, but
the heartbreak and thecommitment and just somehow
knowing that I'm just going tokeep going, even though it makes
no sense at all.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Makes no sense.
It is yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
One beautiful thing I see here is that your husband
supported you throughout all ofthis.
100% Right, and that generallydoesn't happen, or seldom
happens.
Where those two people canstand together with the same
dream, just about anything'spossible and and, and that's
huge.
So kudos to your husband, whoisn't standing there with you
(18:08):
right now, but I know he'sstanding behind you.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Oh, a hundred percent , couldn't have done it without
the support of my family, ofcourse.
My husband he had to work.
I mean, I was, you know, I feltlike I was on an Island.
So, yes, he was my cheerleader,but he worked for a big
corporate America and traveledfor a living.
So I basically, during this,was a single mom during the week
(18:31):
three littles, one severelydisabled, that I was in and out
of the hospital with all of thetime trying to change the
culture of retail shopping frommy minivan, from my dining room
table you know, just trying, andit was, it was.
It was I don't.
I don't know if I could do itagain.
(18:52):
I'm so glad.
Yeah, I hear you, I mean had Iknown that we were going to, it
cost a half a million dollars ofour money to get this from a
piece of paper to corporateAmerica.
Had I known that, would I havedone it?
Of course not Absolutely notbut today.
Today, Caroline's Cart is ineight countries.
You know a couple of summersago we sent a shipment to Dubai.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
So if any of your listeners are in Dubai.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I sure would love pictures of Caroline's cart,
because it's there.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I love that.
That is amazing.
So I want to jump into thesocial media side of things,
because I'm going to make aguess that, based on your
demographic and the time thatyou're talking about, that
Facebook was a piece of thisMaybe Instagram and TikTok and
(19:47):
so you were able to jump into anexisting market.
Facebook's been around for along time, but these newer
platforms that are beingaccessed by younger groups and
people don't realize that.
Don't realize that.
You know people in ourgeneration we've got, you know,
kids, grandkids and all thesethings, but there's, you know,
young parents in their twentiesand thirties that have special
(20:08):
needs, kids that are in theexact same boat that we are, and
yet they're using wholedifferent means of communication
than many of us are even awareof.
So you were fortunate to beable to tap into that and you
said people were reaching out toyou directly.
So now you've probably got adirect message in an inbox
(20:28):
that's just being floodedconstantly.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
It was constant, it was so much Let me say this too
it was so much pressure, but itwas a good pressure.
It was getting requests from,but it was a good pressure, you
know it was.
It was getting requests fromall over the world, but I needed
that, you know.
I don't know if that makessense.
You know I cried a lot becauseit was so much pressure, but it
was the pressure that encouragedme.
(20:53):
It was like okay, yes, I mean, Ican't pay my bills this month,
but they need it in South Africa.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I got to keep going.
You know I completely get it.
I worked with the civil rightsnonprofit.
I built one that I, you know,used for my own needs.
But as I was paying back andtraveling around the country
helping other people and brokeas hell, and still I'd have
people call me up and say, Idon't know this thing you said
(21:19):
or this thing you did help mymom in a way that, like it
changed her life.
And I'm like, okay, I guessI'll keep going.
You know, like 100%, 100%.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You got to have that because you know it's a, you
know entrepreneurship, you knowchallenging the status quo,
especially in what I did, and ithad never happened before.
So it you know, and it justmade it harder.
And let me say this I created aproduct that the consumer
wanted, but the consumercouldn't buy it.
I had to.
(21:50):
So I'm like I've got the entireworld's largest minority group
wanting this and they can't buyit I got to go to the retailer,
which I thought would just belike oh yes, we want it, we want
it, they didn't.
It took.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
They didn't even see the need, though that's the
crazy thing.
They spend millions andmillions of dollars on these
people in advertising and marketresearch and focus groups and
all these things to findproducts for them to have, and
they missed this one entirely.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Entirely entirely.
So it was a hard sell to theseretailers and Caroline's cart
was not something that theybought and marked up and made
money on.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Right, I came off the bottom line.
Yeah, that was just a service.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
I came off the bottom line.
So you know, millions of peoplecreate products and bring them
to market and sell them toconsumers.
That was not me.
I was the unicorn.
I was, you know, find meanother mom, dad that created
(23:00):
such a needed product but nobody.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
But they could.
They had to bypass the peoplegroup that wanted it the most
much harder.
Wow, this is a powerful story.
As you're going along in yourjourney, before you had gotten a
call back from North Carolina,were the people that you were
connecting with telling you inany way that they were
approaching these retail stores,quote unquote, threatening them
(23:22):
?
Were you even aware of this atall?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
100%.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I may or may have not encouraged them to do so.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I'll never tell I love it.
I love it.
That's what I was hoping tohear.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You know people don't realize.
I don't have the stat in frontof me, but I believe I know it's
a trillion with a, I'm sorry, abillion with a, b the consumer.
The annual special needsconsumer spending is in the
billions of dollars everywherein the United States.
We have money to spend.
We are out in your communities.
(23:55):
You cannot ignore this growingpopulation any longer.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
So I became the voice .
It's not like there's adiscount special needs service
either.
For sure, anytime anybody has amedical or personal care need,
that goes outside of the big boxstuff made in Indonesia and
China by the billions, the priceis tenfold, twentyfold.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, 100 percent.
So you know, I was kind of the,I was kind of the leader behind
this movement because it youknow we are, we are highly
overlooked and underserved andthat had to change and I was
leading that that change, youknow, and again it was.
It was the worst pressure, butit was, it was the greatest
(24:43):
pressure because I knew they hadmy back.
You know, I could not havebrought this product to market
without the millions ofworldwide special needs families
that supported me.
And again, caroline's Cart wascreated for my daughter that is
(25:05):
disabled.
But let me say this the numberone user of Caroline's Cart and
I track all this is the autisticcommunity.
These are kids that walk justfine, but they're runners,
they're overstimulated, theyneed to sit in.
They're runners, they'reoverstimulated, they need to sit
in.
You know, they're adults, theyneed to sit in this to be secure
(25:26):
and safe and not run off.
The second largest user ofCaroline's cart is the senior
adult community.
That was a demographic that wasnot on my radar.
Not everyone can drive electricscooters.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, no, it's so not everyone can drive electric
scooters.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
What happens to?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
somebody.
When they can't perform thenormal functions, they get
locked in a box.
100%, 100% it opens that doorfor them.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You know, and I think those that use Caroline's card,
that surprised me the most.
My mom had cancer, I would takeshe had pancreatic cancer.
It was tough, it was rough.
I would take her to chemo andradiation right next door to a
grocery store.
Then I would then put her inCaroline's cart.
She was so weak she couldn'twalk and I could get her the
(26:09):
things she needed.
So I mean, I used it with mymom who was dying of cancer and
I hear that all of the time itis the only thing that is out
there for needs like that.
It is not just for the specialneeds community.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well, I am absolutely going to be going to my Lowe's
Target and Walmart and see if Ican find that cart, and if I
can't, I will let you know.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Well, it's there.
If it's not there, it's beingused.
Okay, yeah that's true.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, I'll go in the morning when they first, you
know when they're probably allthe carts are sitting there.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
If I can't track it down.
So we're running up to thatspecial time right now, and this
show took a completelydifferent twist from what my
expectations were, even thoughwe talked ahead of time.
I was like I just it's.
I you know it's crazy.
I'm dealing with chemo myself.
So as much as I neverunderstood it before I went
(27:05):
through it, it does scrambleyour brains a bit, and so you my
mom used to call it chemo brainyeah, yeah, I do too.
now people tell me that I'm like, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah sure,
just suck it up buttercup.
And I turned around, when it'swhen your brain swimming in it,
you're just like, yeah, what's abuttercup.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
That's right for sure .
Speaker 1 (27:25):
So it's very humbling , but it's also good to be
humble.
So I I hope that they're givingyou a beautiful royalty for for
what you're getting, and I hopethis turns out to give you back
, you know, a thousand fold whatyou put into this.
You're one of the few peoplethat I know that deserves the
(27:47):
beautiful wealth that so fewpeople get, so I want to
appreciate that.
Just see all that and I supportyou in every way I could.
So why don't you give us yourparting shot, tell us that
message you got so many Icouldn't even begin to know
which one you're going to pullout and then tell us you know
once again how they can find you?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well, if you see my shirt Caroline's Cause.
A couple years ago my husbandand I started a nonprofit to
give back to the community.
That made Caroline's Cartpossible.
So we now have a scholarshipfund called Caroline's Cause and
we give college scholarships aone-time college scholarships to
a family that is raising bothspecial needs and typical kids.
(28:30):
I am unable to fund them all.
I get so many it's exploding.
But you know I look forspeaking engagements If any of
your listeners floating.
But you know I look forspeaking engagements If any of
your listeners you know I traveland I speak.
My website is Drewannspeaks.
That's D-R-E-W-A-N-N.
Speakscom.
You can find all you can findthe CART information, the cause
(28:57):
information and how do I fund myscholarships.
I do that through speakingengagements.
Anyone that gives to Caroline'sCause or hires me to speak, it
is a nonprofit.
You can pay this and get a taxdeduction.
It's like you're paying myhonorarium to come speak and
that's how I'll leave it.
Drewannspeakscom.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
That's beautiful.
Well, drewann, it's been anabsolute pleasure.
I've enjoyed this conversationimmensely.
I want to thank you for joiningour show and, if you ever want
to come back and share some kindof an update about your
nonprofit or any of this greatwork, I always welcome our
guests that we have a goodconversation.
To come back and Absolutely.
(29:35):
I would love to Beautiful, allright.
Well, this has been anotheredition of the healthy living
podcast.
I'm your host, joe grumbine.
I want to thank all thelisteners that make this
possible, and we will see younext time.
Well, hello and welcome back to the Healthy
Living Podcast.
I've got a very special guestwith me today.
Her name is Drew Ann Long andshe is the founder of Caroline's
Cart, and it is really the onlyshopping cart available for
special needs projects, andwe're going to learn a lot today
(00:25):
about a feature you know.
More and more we talk abouttechnology and applications and
things that sort of strayoutside my original vision with
this podcast, which was, youknow, healing techniques and
things like that.
But it turns out we live in2025, and there's all sorts of
tools and resources that canhelp people that have
(00:49):
compromised situations in thisworld.
And, without any further ado,welcome to the show, thanks.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Excited, happy to be here.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Beautiful.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about yourself and
Caroline's cart, and I'm sointerested to be here.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Beautiful.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about yourself and
Caroline's cart, and I'm sointerested to learn here.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hey, thanks.
I'm a married mom of three.
I live in Alabama.
I have three adult children now, but back in the day when my
children were young, I shoppedoften and I have a severely
disabled child.
My middle child, named Carolineexcuse me was born with severe
disabilities, genetic, lifelong.
(01:31):
Doesn't walk or talk, never has, never will.
She's now almost 25.
And I found myself, you know,shopping all the time and I
would use the shopping cartsthat retailers provided Lots of
options fun carts, fire trucks,all the things for the toddlers
and I used those.
And when she outgrew those Iwent to my store manager and I
(01:53):
said hey, we're in small townAlabama.
I'm sure there is a specialtyshopping cart.
Would you mind buying it for me?
My husband traveled for aliving and I got to bring her in
and it was just too difficultto bring her wheelchair in my
other kids and pulling theshopping cart and I'm like there
has to be a special needsshopping cart.
(02:14):
Well, lo and behold, there wasnot a special needs shopping
cart.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I was really just shocked, and I thought the
special needs population is theworld's largest minority group.
We are in retails, pharmacies,all the time.
Our children have health issues.
Why is there not a specialneeds shopping cart?
And thus, 15 years ago, beganmy journey to change the status
(02:42):
quo.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
So this is an actual physical shopping cart.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yes, here's a picture of it, right here.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Oh, in my mind this was some sort of an application
thing.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
So you, know it's a physical product right here and
you can see it when you go out.
I mean, we are everywhere.
Here's the backside of it.
It's just, you know, it's justa larger seat for the older
child and adult and senior adultthat you know might have
dementia and cannot drive theelectric scooters.
(03:15):
It's a very simple design, avery simple product that is now
in every single Walmart in thenation, no kidding,
congratulations, good job.
Last year I was flown out toBentonville, arkansas.
Walmart had said no for yearsand years and years.
(03:36):
But last year, in 2024, walmartdid a nationwide rollout of
Caroline's Cart into everysingle super center and
neighborhood market in theUnited States.
So they're kept right in thefront of the store.
If you see the wheelchairs andthe electric scooters, you will
(03:59):
now see several of these fortheir special needs customers.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Now I don't spend a whole lot of time at Walmart,
but I'm going to go down thereto our local one and I'm going
to go and shoot a picture of one.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
You will see it.
We're also in every Targetnationwide, every Lowe's Home
Improvement nationwide.
If you have Lowe's near you,yeah, we do.
We have all those, yeah.
So yeah, if you have Lowe'snear you, yeah, we do we have
all those yeah?
So yeah, we're there, you cansee it.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I'll do a local audit for you and let you know what I
find.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Awesome.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That is amazing.
So now this is a completelydifferent conversation than I
thought we were going to behaving.
I thought this was some sort ofan electronic cart thing and my
mind had gone to a totallydifferent direction.
So now that I understand whatwe're dealing with, how did you
go from an idea to manufacturing, to distribution?
(04:58):
I mean, this is like a wholelife.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, okay, so let me set the scene.
You know, I have a collegedegree in business, I worked in
accounting, had my threechildren.
Life was great.
When my middle child was aroundthree, I realized, with her
severe disabilities, I was goingto have to quit.
So I found myself astay-at-home mom with three
littles and needing a productthat did not exist.
(05:24):
So I drew it on a piece ofpaper and I took my idea.
There's four shopping cartmanufacturers in the United
States.
I took my drawing to all four.
I didn't want money, I didn'twant to do it.
I wanted them to do it.
I didn't have time, I didn'tknow how.
They all dismissed me, saidthere wasn't a need.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
So oh yeah, how does that even come about, you know?
Oh yeah, wow.
We've got a gigantic disabilityproblem in the United States,
from veterans to, like you said,all the way to dementia and
everything in between.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
World's largest minority group.
They just they weren'tlistening.
They dismissed me.
Had they walked 24 hours in myshoes, they would have snagged
it.
So here I am with this ideathat no one wanted, but I
believed in it enough to try tomake a go of it.
So you know, it took me yearsand years to get off the ground.
Why is that?
Because I didn't have theluxury of going to an office.
(06:27):
I was a mom first.
I had to do this when my kidsnapped, when my kids went to bed
, and just try to figure it out,I'm like, okay, so how do I get
this off of a piece of paperinto a physical product?
So yeah, it was years and yearsof work.
I finally got my firstprototype.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
A firm in Indiana built it for me.
It was $28,000 and you couldn'tsit in it.
I had it in my dining room fromscratch, but on such a small
scale that I know for somebodylike if I wanted to get a piece
of equipment made unless I had afabricator that it was simple
(07:12):
enough.
They could just, you know, benda piece of steel for me or
something it's.
It's, it's a project.
So you found some sort of a ofa fabricator and you were able
to give this design to.
They were able to understand itwell enough to do something for
you.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I drew it on paper.
They took it from paper to anactual physical cart.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Got it and that cost you $28,000 out of your pocket.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Out of my pocket.
Now our savings is gone.
I drove up to Indianapolis.
I picked it up, loaded it inthe back, took all the seats out
of my minivan, brought it home,took pictures of it in my
dining room and started socialmedia.
If it was not for social media,we wouldn't be having this
conversation today, because itwas the only avenue I had.
(08:00):
I was not corporate America.
Corporate America should havedone this.
I took it to them.
They shot it down, so createdsocial media, and the instant I
went to social media, I had andI am not kidding thousands of
emails.
Week one asking me where theycould shop with this cart,
(08:28):
really.
Week one asking me where theycould shop with this cart
because, oh, it just explodedweek one.
I'm like, oh my goodness, I onlyhave a prototype in my problem
yeah now I had a differentproblem, but, but, but I needed
that community, that grassrootseffort.
That is what number onereassured me that this was a
need, that this was not crazy.
(08:51):
I knew that it wasn't, but Ineeded this grassroots momentum
and effort and support frompeople all over the world who
are wanting the shopping cart.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Well, and it's more than just a need.
So there's two elements to this, because I deal with people
that have real needs but there'snot an understanding of there's
a solution available, and so Toget that message, social media
can be very instrumental in that, because people are paying
attention to social media.
(09:21):
Right, I'm not that good atsocial media, so even though I
throw things up there, itdoesn't get grabbed the way.
But you had a particular typeof product that reached a
particular audience that theywere able to embrace your idea
in a meaningful way, becausethere was nothing out there that
represented nothing nothingit's.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
It's one of a kind so after, you know, after I've
created this demand, I'm inpanic mode thinking how in the
world now I need a manufacturer.
But all the manufacturers toldme no right so once I had my uh
first prototype, I drove it I'mlike, okay, there's four.
That told me, no, I'm going tonarrow it down to one.
So I went to the largest, thebest.
(10:03):
The biggest it's in NorthCarolina.
Every shopping cart you've evertouched comes out of North
Carolina.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
All right yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Fun fact, now you know.
So now I took my prototype toNorth Carolina and I'm like I'm
back.
So this is trip number two.
Showed them my product.
They told me no a second time.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Nice, of course.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Cried all the way home.
Right, I'm like, well, this isgoing to be dead if I don't have
I mean, I have to have amanufacturer, Right?
So it took me another yearabout to hunt and peck and work
on this from the ballpark, fromthe hospital room, from, you
know, I had little kids andagain, I'm doing this when I can
in my, in my, in my spare time.
I'm not corporate America.
(10:44):
So I found a shopping cart man.
Well, no, no, no.
I found a manufacturer inGeorgia that made the lumber
carts for Lowe's, If you ever goget the big.
You know big he's like okay, Ithis is kind of, this is in my
wheelhouse, but not in mywheelhouse.
I'll make you 100 carts.
Really 100 cost me $100,000.
(11:07):
Holy cow.
So, Wow.
Have no money.
My husband and I had to go toour retirement, our 401k, which
you are told to never, ever,ever, ever touch that.
But we didn't have a choice.
It was either fund this withour retirement or it was not
going it was not going to happen.
(11:27):
So that's what we did.
I took the biggest risk that Imean I didn't think I was a risk
taker, but I became theultimate risk taker.
So I had 100 carts.
I like, what am I going to dowith these 100 carts?
Now, mind you, I've got patents.
I mean, I've got patent fees,patent attorneys, all the things
.
So you know, I'm well more intodebt than $100,000.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Overall, I would say yeah, I know Patents can be very
expensive.
And then there's a giantproblem with patent attorneys.
Sometimes they steal your idea.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Oh yeah, well, they didn't steal mine.
I was blessed with that, but Iam hundreds of thousands of
dollars into debt grading our401K.
So now I have 100 carts.
I go to Walmart Target all thebig dogs and I show them my
product and I tell them aboutthem.
They won't buy it from me.
They said we only buy from theshopping cart manufacturer in
(12:23):
North Carolina, Of course, andI'm I didn't have the guts to
tell them.
They told me no twice.
I said oh great.
So cry for a couple of months.
I'm like, okay, I've now havespent our entire retirement and
no one will buy this.
So I had to go a differentroute, and that route was the
(12:47):
smaller, locally owned mom andpop stores is what I call them.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
So the ones that don't have the bureaucracy that
really no one's ever heard of.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Right, so Don't necessarily care about that.
One company in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
That's right.
That's right so well.
They actually did buy thoseshopping carts from North
Carolina, but they also took achance on me.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Well, they didn't have a contract that said we're
going to only buy it from you.
That's right, that's right,that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's right.
So I literally got a map outand I thought well, I need to
seed the market with these 100carts.
Let me back up there was only88 carts because there was a
fire at the manufacturer.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, of course there was Of course there was.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I got none of my money back for those 12 carts,
which was critical.
That's a whole other story but.
I now have 88 carts that I needto seed the market with, so I
didn't want to seed the marketonly in Alabama.
88 carts that I need to seedthe market with.
So I didn't want to seed themarket only in Alabama.
I needed this to be anationwide, grassroots movement.
So I literally looked up momand pop stores all over the
(13:48):
nation and my first sale was inSunset Foods, a locally owned
mom and pop store that has fivechains in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
That was sale number one it's a long way from North
Carolina.
What's that?
I said that's a long way fromhome.
Yeah Well, and I'm in Alabama,right, that's right, right.
Right, I'm in Alabama, so salenumber one that's even longer
away from Alabama.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Right, right.
So once I got that one cartcart number one in Sun foods I
go to social media and I'm like,if you have special needs or
senior adults here, go, go tothis location yeah and take
pictures and post that was cartnumber.
That was cart number one sothen, cart number two, I believe
(14:32):
, was michigan, cart numberthree, I believe, was maybe out
west.
So it took me about a year toseed the market with the 88
carts.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So let me ask you this how much did you sell these
carts for?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I believe back in the early days they were around
$900.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So you sold it for cheaper than it cost you to buy
it for, oh 100%.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Oh, I made no money on this for-.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
No, no, I get it.
I just want to make sure thelisteners understand.
Oh yeah, it was what you'regoing through because I it there
, I do, I'm I.
I create things from scratch aswell, and I know all the yeah,
the, the, the heartbreak andlosses, everything that you deal
with, and most of the timenothing comes of it.
But when you're persistent likeyou are and you got that dream
(15:18):
and the vision and the drive, we, we can make anything happen.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
You're showing that Well, none of this made sense
financially, I mean we werelosing money every single month.
You know we just if it wasn'tfor our 401k, you know.
I didn't work.
My husband, you know, myhusband was traveling and
working and everything wefunneled into this cart.
So after about a year I had 88carts strategically placed
(15:41):
throughout the United States.
The rumble has started People.
I mean it's growing.
I mean it took 88 carts.
It's growing on social mediait's growing.
It's growing.
About a year and a half I'msitting at this exact same
dining room table and my phonerings and it said North Carolina
(16:02):
.
I only know one person in NorthCarolina and that was a
shopping cart manufacturer thattold me no twice.
I answered the phone and theysaid okay, we've got Walmart and
Target and all the big dogscalling us saying we have rogue
(16:23):
moms threatening that if we donot get it was awesome, it was
epic, oh my God Saying if wedon't get Caroline's cart,
they're going to get the localTV station out here and they are
going to publicly shame us.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They said come up, it's time to talk.
My third trip to North Carolina.
I got a manufacturing, aninternational manufacturing
contract.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Holy cow.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That's how it happened.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Wow, I am blown away.
Like that is true grassrootsall happening without even your
direction, like you weren'ttelling these people to do this,
they were just doing it, right?
Wow?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It just proves the need.
You know, anybody can point.
Let me just say this to allyour listeners it's very, very
easy to point out a problem.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Oh yeah, I talk about that all the time.
Anybody can do that yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Who's going to throw?
My husband always says anybodycan throw the grenade, but who's
going to throw their body onthe grenade?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Exactly.
I share so many commonexperiences with you on totally
different wavelengths andtotally different things, but
the heartbreak and thecommitment and just somehow
knowing that I'm just going tokeep going, even though it makes
no sense at all.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Makes no sense.
It is yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
One beautiful thing I see here is that your husband
supported you throughout all ofthis.
100% Right, and that generallydoesn't happen, or seldom
happens.
Where those two people canstand together with the same
dream, just about anything'spossible and and, and that's
huge.
So kudos to your husband, whoisn't standing there with you
(18:08):
right now, but I know he'sstanding behind you.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Oh, a hundred percent , couldn't have done it without
the support of my family, ofcourse.
My husband he had to work.
I mean, I was, you know, I feltlike I was on an Island.
So, yes, he was my cheerleader,but he worked for a big
corporate America and traveledfor a living.
So I basically, during this,was a single mom during the week
(18:31):
three littles, one severelydisabled, that I was in and out
of the hospital with all of thetime trying to change the
culture of retail shopping frommy minivan, from my dining room
table you know, just trying, andit was, it was.
It was I don't.
I don't know if I could do itagain.
(18:52):
I'm so glad.
Yeah, I hear you, I mean had Iknown that we were going to, it
cost a half a million dollars ofour money to get this from a
piece of paper to corporateAmerica.
Had I known that, would I havedone it?
Of course not Absolutely notbut today.
Today, Caroline's Cart is ineight countries.
You know a couple of summersago we sent a shipment to Dubai.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
So if any of your listeners are in Dubai.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
I sure would love pictures of Caroline's cart,
because it's there.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I love that.
That is amazing.
So I want to jump into thesocial media side of things,
because I'm going to make aguess that, based on your
demographic and the time thatyou're talking about, that
Facebook was a piece of thisMaybe Instagram and TikTok and
(19:47):
so you were able to jump into anexisting market.
Facebook's been around for along time, but these newer
platforms that are beingaccessed by younger groups and
people don't realize that.
Don't realize that.
You know people in ourgeneration we've got, you know,
kids, grandkids and all thesethings, but there's, you know,
young parents in their twentiesand thirties that have special
(20:08):
needs, kids that are in theexact same boat that we are, and
yet they're using wholedifferent means of communication
than many of us are even awareof.
So you were fortunate to beable to tap into that and you
said people were reaching out toyou directly.
So now you've probably got adirect message in an inbox
(20:28):
that's just being floodedconstantly.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
It was constant, it was so much Let me say this too
it was so much pressure, but itwas a good pressure.
It was getting requests from,but it was a good pressure, you
know it was.
It was getting requests fromall over the world, but I needed
that, you know.
I don't know if that makessense.
You know I cried a lot becauseit was so much pressure, but it
was the pressure that encouragedme.
(20:53):
It was like okay, yes, I mean, Ican't pay my bills this month,
but they need it in South Africa.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I got to keep going.
You know I completely get it.
I worked with the civil rightsnonprofit.
I built one that I, you know,used for my own needs.
But as I was paying back andtraveling around the country
helping other people and brokeas hell, and still I'd have
people call me up and say, Idon't know this thing you said
(21:19):
or this thing you did help mymom in a way that, like it
changed her life.
And I'm like, okay, I guessI'll keep going.
You know, like 100%, 100%.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You got to have that because you know it's a, you
know entrepreneurship, you knowchallenging the status quo,
especially in what I did, and ithad never happened before.
So it you know, and it justmade it harder.
And let me say this I created aproduct that the consumer
wanted, but the consumercouldn't buy it.
I had to.
(21:50):
So I'm like I've got the entireworld's largest minority group
wanting this and they can't buyit I got to go to the retailer,
which I thought would just belike oh yes, we want it, we want
it, they didn't.
It took.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
They didn't even see the need, though that's the
crazy thing.
They spend millions andmillions of dollars on these
people in advertising and marketresearch and focus groups and
all these things to findproducts for them to have, and
they missed this one entirely.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Entirely entirely.
So it was a hard sell to theseretailers and Caroline's cart
was not something that theybought and marked up and made
money on.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Right, I came off the bottom line.
Yeah, that was just a service.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
I came off the bottom line.
So you know, millions of peoplecreate products and bring them
to market and sell them toconsumers.
That was not me.
I was the unicorn.
I was, you know, find meanother mom, dad that created
(23:00):
such a needed product but nobody.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
But they could.
They had to bypass the peoplegroup that wanted it the most
much harder.
Wow, this is a powerful story.
As you're going along in yourjourney, before you had gotten a
call back from North Carolina,were the people that you were
connecting with telling you inany way that they were
approaching these retail stores,quote unquote, threatening them
(23:22):
?
Were you even aware of this atall?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
100%.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I may or may have not encouraged them to do so.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
I'll never tell I love it.
I love it.
That's what I was hoping tohear.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You know people don't realize.
I don't have the stat in frontof me, but I believe I know it's
a trillion with a, I'm sorry, abillion with a, b the consumer.
The annual special needsconsumer spending is in the
billions of dollars everywherein the United States.
We have money to spend.
We are out in your communities.
(23:55):
You cannot ignore this growingpopulation any longer.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
So I became the voice .
It's not like there's adiscount special needs service
either.
For sure, anytime anybody has amedical or personal care need,
that goes outside of the big boxstuff made in Indonesia and
China by the billions, the priceis tenfold, twentyfold.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, 100 percent.
So you know, I was kind of the,I was kind of the leader behind
this movement because it youknow we are, we are highly
overlooked and underserved andthat had to change and I was
leading that that change, youknow, and again it was.
It was the worst pressure, butit was, it was the greatest
(24:43):
pressure because I knew they hadmy back.
You know, I could not havebrought this product to market
without the millions ofworldwide special needs families
that supported me.
And again, caroline's Cart wascreated for my daughter that is
(25:05):
disabled.
But let me say this the numberone user of Caroline's Cart and
I track all this is the autisticcommunity.
These are kids that walk justfine, but they're runners,
they're overstimulated, theyneed to sit in.
They're runners, they'reoverstimulated, they need to sit
in.
You know, they're adults, theyneed to sit in this to be secure
(25:26):
and safe and not run off.
The second largest user ofCaroline's cart is the senior
adult community.
That was a demographic that wasnot on my radar.
Not everyone can drive electricscooters.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, no, it's so not everyone can drive electric
scooters.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
What happens to?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
somebody.
When they can't perform thenormal functions, they get
locked in a box.
100%, 100% it opens that doorfor them.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You know, and I think those that use Caroline's card,
that surprised me the most.
My mom had cancer, I would takeshe had pancreatic cancer.
It was tough, it was rough.
I would take her to chemo andradiation right next door to a
grocery store.
Then I would then put her inCaroline's cart.
She was so weak she couldn'twalk and I could get her the
(26:09):
things she needed.
So I mean, I used it with mymom who was dying of cancer and
I hear that all of the time itis the only thing that is out
there for needs like that.
It is not just for the specialneeds community.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well, I am absolutely going to be going to my Lowe's
Target and Walmart and see if Ican find that cart, and if I
can't, I will let you know.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Well, it's there.
If it's not there, it's beingused.
Okay, yeah that's true.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, I'll go in the morning when they first, you
know when they're probably allthe carts are sitting there.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
If I can't track it down.
So we're running up to thatspecial time right now, and this
show took a completelydifferent twist from what my
expectations were, even thoughwe talked ahead of time.
I was like I just it's.
I you know it's crazy.
I'm dealing with chemo myself.
So as much as I neverunderstood it before I went
(27:05):
through it, it does scrambleyour brains a bit, and so you my
mom used to call it chemo brainyeah, yeah, I do too.
now people tell me that I'm like, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah sure,
just suck it up buttercup.
And I turned around, when it'swhen your brain swimming in it,
you're just like, yeah, what's abuttercup.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
That's right for sure .
Speaker 1 (27:25):
So it's very humbling , but it's also good to be
humble.
So I I hope that they're givingyou a beautiful royalty for for
what you're getting, and I hopethis turns out to give you back
, you know, a thousand fold whatyou put into this.
You're one of the few peoplethat I know that deserves the
(27:47):
beautiful wealth that so fewpeople get, so I want to
appreciate that.
Just see all that and I supportyou in every way I could.
So why don't you give us yourparting shot, tell us that
message you got so many Icouldn't even begin to know
which one you're going to pullout and then tell us you know
once again how they can find you?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well, if you see my shirt Caroline's Cause.
A couple years ago my husbandand I started a nonprofit to
give back to the community.
That made Caroline's Cartpossible.
So we now have a scholarshipfund called Caroline's Cause and
we give college scholarships aone-time college scholarships to
a family that is raising bothspecial needs and typical kids.
(28:30):
I am unable to fund them all.
I get so many it's exploding.
But you know I look forspeaking engagements If any of
your listeners floating.
But you know I look forspeaking engagements If any of
your listeners you know I traveland I speak.
My website is Drewannspeaks.
That's D-R-E-W-A-N-N.
Speakscom.
You can find all you can findthe CART information, the cause
(28:57):
information and how do I fund myscholarships.
I do that through speakingengagements.
Anyone that gives to Caroline'sCause or hires me to speak, it
is a nonprofit.
You can pay this and get a taxdeduction.
It's like you're paying myhonorarium to come speak and
that's how I'll leave it.
Drewannspeakscom.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
That's beautiful.
Well, drewann, it's been anabsolute pleasure.
I've enjoyed this conversationimmensely.
I want to thank you for joiningour show and, if you ever want
to come back and share some kindof an update about your
nonprofit or any of this greatwork, I always welcome our
guests that we have a goodconversation.
To come back and Absolutely.
(29:35):
I would love to Beautiful, allright.
Well, this has been anotheredition of the healthy living
podcast.
I'm your host, joe grumbine.
I want to thank all thelisteners that make this
possible, and we will see younext time.
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