Heartfelt

Mattias Tepner and his father, Eric, embarked on a 500-mile tandem bike ride from San Francisco to San Diego to raise awareness and money for the International Children’s Heart Foundation (ICHF). Thanks to the help of vehicle graphics, as well as support from sign and graphics franchisor, FASTSIGNS Intl. Inc. (Carrollton, TX) and a franchisee in California, they completed their mission.

Mattias was just three months old when he underwent open-heart surgery to repair a congenital heart defect. Now, 10 years later, a healthy Mattias completed the 500-mile tandem ride with his father. The plan: To have a memorable family adventure. The hope: To raise awareness and money for the ICHF, a nonprofit organization that assists children in developing countries who are in need of heart surgery, but lack the resources.

Eric explained that, after he learned about the ICHF, he planned to cycle across the Pacific coast with Mattias to “give back.” The Keller, TX-based family traveled nearly 1,700 miles to San Francisco to begin the trek.

To prepare for the ride, Eric had to locate sponsors to support the effort. Clint Ehlers, owner of the Culver City, CA center, heard about the Texas duo and was eager to help. Ehlers contacted the Tepners, helped them assemble a sponsorship package and offered to design graphics for the support vehicle, which would drive from Texas to California, and then alongside Mattias and Eric on their tandem journey. Ehlers then rallied support from Fastsigns corporate headquarters.

The Tepners visited the Carrollton office, where members of the training and technical-services departments printed graphics created by Ehlers and manually applied them to the Tepners’ support vehicle. The message for all to see: “One boy. One Dad. One bike. 500 miles for a good cause.”

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“It’s not every day you come across a family like the Tepners. Their story was very inspiring to us,” said Larry Lane, president of Fastsigns Intl. Inc. “Clint approached us about donating the time, labor and materials for the vehicle graphics, which had the potential to make all the difference in their goals for this trip, and we were honored to be able to be a part of that.”

The Tepner family set out for California on June 13, and, on July 6, Eric and Mattias successfully finished. Throughout the trip, the vehicle graphics not only received positive feedback and ICHF publicity but also helped the Tepners connect with potential supporters, including a bicycle shop owner who, after viewing the support vehicle, offered to help sponsor future ‘Tepner Cycle for Hearts’ projects.

Upon completion of the ride, the graphics were removed. However, the Tepners framed the art that was pulled from the back windshield, along with the bicycle tire tread that never went flat.