Blum forced to end longtime bicycle philanthropy
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

Mark Blum

Eleven years from the day his project started, philanthropist Mark Blum of Agoura Hills is now too ill to continue operating Mission With Bikes. Through Blum's efforts, 3,600 bikes have been repaired and donated to people in need and to organizations from the Conejo Valley to the far reaches of the world.

Blum launched his Mission With Bikes on May 26, 1996, three years after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and had to resign as vice president of an insurance company.

Over the course of his work, Blum, 54, has fixed broken bicycles and donated them to more than 100 groups throughout Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Barbara counties. He has also placed bikes with children sick and in need in Mexico, Bulgaria, Russia and across the United States.

His bikes have also rolled onto Navajo and Hopi reservations and have been sent to Uganda and Kenya, often providing the transportation needed for families to work.

After helping so many people over so many years, Blum now finds himself in need of support. Last November his health took a turn for the worse. He came down with pneumonia and landed in a hospital. Now completely immobile, Blum can no longer feed himself, said his 82-year-old mother, Betty Blum. He recently moved to a residential living facility in Oak Park.

"I need help," he said from his new home. "My health has deteriorated."

Betty Blum took care of her son at the Agoura Hills house for many years. With Mark now being cared for in a residential setting, the Blum home and its contents must be sold to help pay the escalating cost of his healthcare.

"I just admire Mark for his generosity of time and how he gave his own time and resources towards projects," said Cameron Johnson, a friend and treasurer of the Agoura/Las Virgenes Optimist Club. "He was just so generous and bighearted about it. He never tried to take anything. He gave everything 100 percent."

"He's never coming home," said his mother. "He loved his house. His care and well-being is more important than anything else to me, though."

Calvary Community Church helped box up some of the contents of Blum's garage last week. Johnson said the church will continue to operate Mission With Bikes from a warehouse in Oxnard.

Karen Blum, Mark's ex-wife, has been helping with the sale of the house. "I just cry every night," she said. "He can't even turn in bed anymore."

Betty Blum said the bikes on the premises are slowly being taken away by several groups. "I'm his mother, and I'm so proud of him," she said. "He's affected a lot of people. He's still active mentally- he still wants to know."

"Mark is a very sweet, kind and giving man," said George Annino, vice president of the local Optimist Club. "He's given so much to the community. He's helped out so many people. I hate to see him suffering."

Donations may be sent in Mark Blum's name to Teri Slobodian, Blum's longtime caregiver, for deposit into a Wells Fargo bank account. Checks can be mailed to Slobodian at 29725 Strawberry Hill Drive, Agoura Hills, CA 91301.