Got milk? 7-year-old P.E.I. girl gets special ADL delivery
Stephanie Kelly | CBC News | Posted: December 22, 2016 9:00 PM | Last Updated: December 22, 2016
Ellerslie Elementary student with rare disorder gets personal delivery of fat-free milk
A 7-year-old girl from Western P.E.I. can now drink milk at school without getting sick — thanks to a special delivery from ADL.
Raya Cann has a rare disorder called lipoprotein lipase deficiency, which means she can only consume 13 grams of fat every day. So drinking milk, while important to her diet, can be a bit of a challenge.
"One of the ways for her to get milk is through the program at school, but they only have two per cent milk," said Raya's dad, Will Cann.
Raya needed small cartons of skim milk, but ADL discontinued those in Prince County years ago.
But when the company heard Raya's story, they decided to make a special delivery from Charlottetown, so Raya could get five cartons of fat-free milk each week.
Small package, big journey
Each carton needs to make a trip from the plant in West Royalty to the plant in St. Elenors, P.E.I., and then to Ellerslie Elementary.
And ADL Corporate Sales Manager, Lee Turner, said it can be a challenge for those small packages to make such a big journey.
"Milk's easy to move when it's in those big crates that we're all familiar with, but when you have five of the little 250 mls … it does require a little bit of special handling to make sure the right five pieces get to the right school to the right student," he said.
Will Cann said he's really thankful to ADL for going the extra mile — his daughter can now have a regular lunch, just like other kids.
"It means so much to Raya, because all the other kids are getting milk, right? And she's sitting there with nothing. And now all of a sudden, they're like, 'Yeah, that's not fair for Raya,' so you know, they stepped up and they said we'll do it for her."
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