Pedals for Progress (P4P) is a nonprofit organization based in New Jersey. P4P collects used bicycles and sewing machines and ships them to motivated people in the developing world. P4P seeks to spur economic development in developing countries by providing transportation for adults and children with bikes, and job opportunities in the sewing and tailoring business with sewing machines. The organization also seeks to reduce the number of bikes and sewing machines in landfills through these donations. As of 2023, P4P has sent more than 166,000 bikes and more than 6,000 sewing machines to partners in 48 countries.
P4P works with shipping companies that offer free initial shipping, with the goal of further bike shipments becoming profitable. Bicycle partner organizations typically have a bike shop that can make money selling and repairing the bikes they get. The bikes are then resold at a reduced price.
History
Pedals for Progress was founded by David Schweidenback in 1991. Schweidenback served as a Peace Corps volunteer in
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
, where he noticed that his landlord, who was a carpenter, made more money than his peers because he had the only bicycle in the area and therefore spent less time traveling and more time working. When Schweidenback returned from the Peace Corps, he began collecting discarded bikes to be shipped abroad.
See also
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Bikes Not Bombs
Bikes Not Bombs is a Boston, Massachusetts based nonprofit that uses the bicycle as a vehicle for social change by recycling donated bicycles, training young people to fix their own bikes and become employable mechanics and sending thousands of bi ...
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World Bicycle Relief
World Bicycle Relief is an international nonprofit organization that mobilizes communities in rural and underserved regions through the power of bicyclesFounded in 2005 the organization designs, manufactures, and distributepurpose-built bicyclest ...
References
External links
Pedals for Progress Web SiteBikes for the World
1991 establishments in New Jersey
Foundations based in the United States
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