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The Carr Fire took his home and a dear friend's life. But he's still giving bikes to kids

For years, he gave away bikes at Christmas time to needy kids. Then the Carr Fire took his home and best friend. But that didn't stop him from his continuing his Christmas tradition.

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If there ever were a year for Ted Blankenheim to take a break, it would be this one. 

Blankenheim, a nurse and former fire chief who's been giving bikes away to local foster children for over a decade now, lost his home in the Carr Fire, and it also killed his friend Jeremy Stoke, a Redding fire inspector and passionate supporter of the annual giveaway. 

"It was his cause, too," Blankenheim said of Stoke.

But since the fire destroyed well over 1,000 homes in July, there are even more cash-strapped families in the community — and kids who could use cheering up. So instead of calling off the giveaway in the face of so much tragedy, Blankenheim is honoring Stoke by carrying it on and opening it up to fire victims who are now struggling financially.

"It’s very frustrating, but you know what?" Blankenheim said. "I look around, I see what happened to Jeremy, what his family had to go through. You know, we just all go on, I think just trying to do things good in the spirit of who they were."

Blankenheim said Stoke donated a bike for the giveaway every year.

The other donations Blankenheim counts on hadn't come in when the fire hit, so fortunately, he said the fire didn't destroy any bikes. He stores as many of them as possible in the Eureka Way Starbucks, where the annual string of brightly colored bikes near the windows has become as much of a holiday fixture as the store's signature red cups. 

For Blankenheim, bikes are a symbol of childhood innocence.

"Everybody remembers their first bike," he said. 

But Blankenheim realized they're not affordable for everyone when, a few years ago, he found out his parents had to put one of his childhood bikes on layaway for three years at Montgomery Ward to pay it off. 

"I said, 'That was great,' and dad said, 'Hell, Ted, you don't know the half of it,'" Blankenheim said. 

His Bikes for Kids giveaway saw 384 bikes go out in the 2017 season — the biggest year of donations yet. But Blankenheim said he's hoping the tragic fire will inspire even more people to give. 

"I think everybody's in a generous spirit," he said. "Everybody, even people who walk into Starbucks, they see what’s happening, they donate."

That's what convinced Ryan Cooper and his wife, owners of The Bike Shop on Bechelli Lane, to donate 30 bikes this year.

The Coopers usually donate two or three bikes to Blankenheim's giveaway, but after Cooper's parents lost their home in the fire and he and his family were evacuated themselves, Cooper said he wanted to help more people.

"When we were under evacuation from our house, I told my wife that this is the year I wanted to get a hold of Ted and give a little bit extra," Cooper said.

Cooper said his daughters carefully picked out the colors they thought kids would like best, and they made sure to include an equal amount for different ages and genders. 

His daughters, 13 and 16, even decided to give up a portion of their Christmas gift from their parents in place of extra donated bikes, he said. 

"It shouldn't be a kid's problem," Cooper said. "It's more an adult's problem, and so kids shouldn't have to suffer." 

If there are enough donations, Blankenheim said he hopes to even give some bikes away to victims of the Camp Fire in Butte County.

"Some of those people didn't have much to begin with," he said of this year's wildfire victims. "I think that it’s got to help kids and adults alike, to find out that, you know, people care. I mean, it won’t take away all their pain, but I think it will give them some comfort if we make them smile a little bit."

Donated bikes have to be new. They'll be distributed on either Dec. 23 or 24. 

Blankenheim gets a curated list of families to gift through foster-care agencies and schools, but he said he's open to suggestions. Contact him at 530-917-5806 if you have a suggestion of a family or want more information on how to give. 

"I think that’s the best attitude to take to look at this whole thing. I'm grateful for what people did for me (when he lost his home)," Blankenheim said. "And you know what? I've heard it so many times, that as many problems that we have in our community, this is still a huge giving community."

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