Dave Schweidenback started the nonprofit Pedals for Progress in 1991 and has since shipped more than 115,000 bicycles to 32 developing countries across the world. "Used bicycles can transform the economic and social condition of families," says Schweidenback. "[They] give people access to jobs, health care and education that is too distant for walking."
When Dave Schweidenback first had the idea for Pedals for Progress, he asked people in his New Jersey community to donate their used bicycles, hoping to get 12 bicycles. He got 140. He shipped 500 in the first year and the numbers have been going up ever since.
Dave Schweidenback got the idea for Pedals for Progress while working for Peace Corps in Ecuador. "Besides the bus that comes through town and one guy that owned a pickup truck," he says, "everybody walked everywhere all the time. My landlord was the exception because he owned the only bike in a 500-mile radius. He was the most successful man in the region because he could access a job and get wherever he needed to go." Schweidenback saw the potential power of bicycles in developing nation and he also saw how scarce they were. When he saw a dump in New Jersey overflowing with them, he made the connection.
Visit the Pedals For Progress Web site at www.p4p.org.
Source: CNN
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