After years of work, Alabaster residents Drew Ann and David Long are seeing the fruition of their dream of making life a little easier for families with children with special needs.

The Longs have spent much time and money inventing and marketing a grocery cart designed to be appropriate for children with special needs — especially older children with special needs.

That journey started when their own child, Caroline, outgrew the infant seat on traditional shopping carts, which made it difficult for her mother to take her grocery shopping. Caroline, now 8, has Rett’s syndrome, a nervous system disorder affecting movement and expressive language.

Now, the journey has a happy ending: The Longs will travel to North Carolina next week to kick off the wide-scale production of Caroline’s Cart, named for their daughter. The Longs signed over sales and production of the cart to Technibilt, a company that will manufacture the cart for national distribution.

We applaud the Longs for all their hard work and determination in making Caroline’s Cart a reality. Their work will help pave the way for countless other families with children with special needs to be more comfortable while shopping. After all, it’s not always practical to leave a child at home while shopping, especially not a child who has special needs. In this way, families will be able to make their children comfortable while also providing for all the members of the family — sometimes not an easy task.

According to Technibilt, several national retailers have already pre-ordered the cart. We’re thrilled to hear that, and we know families across the country are also thrilled.

The We Say is the opinion of the Shelby County Reporter editorial board.