South Mississippi woman spreads joy using her ‘Care Bears’ themed Jeep
(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - One South Mississippi woman is using her "Care Bears" wrapped Specialty Jeep as a way to spread joy to the Mississippi Coast.
Hundreds of thousands of vehicles move through south Mississippi each day an endless flow of tan sedans, white pick-up trucks and black SUVs, but when a "Care Bear" themed Jeep goes anywhere, it catches everyone's attention.
"The second I pull up anywhere, I get smiles I mean on everybody's faces. Anybody from a child, all the way to a grandpa," said Dawn Flaherty, owner of the "Care Bears" Jeep.
It combines two important things in her life: A love of Jeeps and her nickname of "care bear," which she was given by her husband because of her happy and bubbly personality.
Flaherty's visions of her dream car came to reality after a friend sent her a picture of a similarly-themed Jeep.
"I was like, 'This is cute, don't know if I can make this reality happen, but maybe.' And somehow, the universe worked in my favor," Flaherty shared.
While the Jeep is fun to stop and take a look at, it does more than what you might think. Flaherty's goal is to make south Mississippians smile, one mile at a time.
"I think it's just so much fun because I have heard so many stories about what 'Care Bears' means to people, and so that's really what it is. It's about spreading joy and kindness I mean, the world's dark right now, so it's just fun to be a little bright on the Coast," Flaherty expressed.
No matter where she goes or who she meets, she looks to spread a smile and a bit of joy in true Jeep enthusiast fashion, of course.
"So I've got these little fun Care Bear ducks and this is just my imprint in the world," Flaherty remarked.
As for the next step in her mission, Flaherty says, "Well right now, I am being relentless and I am emailing the Cloud Company, which is the Care Bear company, and I'm trying to get a collab because what I really want is a mission of spreading this joy all over the country. I want to, you know, just leave a ripple effect of kindness everywhere I go."
