COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY CRUSADER CERI Early Childhood Studies and Sociology graduate, Ceri Davies, is the volunteer founder of More Mascots Please, a community interest company (CIC) and a self-employed disability activist and coach. The 31-year-old lives in Kingswinford, and chose to study at the University of Wolverhampton as due to complex needs and happy family life, she wanted to study somewhere with an easy commute.
“My degree helped with More Mascots Please (MMP) as studying early childhood studies joint with sociology gave me a grasp of both fields, ideal as with MMP we work with disabled, disadvantaged and life-limited children in the early years. “I was in my second year when I came up with the concept of MMP. I was typing one-fingered on my laptop and an image
of a giant green dog mascot came into my mind, and from that point I have supported children and families who need much help and support! “The biggest hurdle I have had to overcome is that my daily life has constant challenges, with disability issues every day. So I run MMP to distract myself from any negatives or discrimination that I face as a disabled person. These happen to me many times, and I try to always turn those negatives into positives. “I’ve run MMP since 2009 following a series of sad events. My beloved uncle passed away after a motorbike collision, then my friend, fundraiser and Pride of Britain winner, Liam Fairhurst, tragically passed away from cancer. This gave me the motivation to start fundraising for children’s cancer charities and carry on his work. In 2013 my local council for voluntary services helped me to register MMP as a CIC. “Since then, we’ve helped over 1,000 disabled, disadvantaged and life-limited children in the West Midlands. We achieve this by facilitating mascot appearances, as well as face painting, balloon modelling, nail art, tattoos and costume make-up. “We also do numerous fundraisers throughout the year like pub quizzes, raffles, and psychic nights with all profits going into the CIC to provide trips and gifts for the children. Every year we have a large Christmas party free to all families, with party food, entertainment, gifts from Santa and all of our services.
SUMMER 2021
LIFE MAGAZINE
41
