Rotary Gearing Up For Bike, Sewing Machine Collection Drive In Newtown

NEWTOWN, PA — In the United States, used bicycles are a dime a dozen. But in an impoverished village in Africa or Latin America, they can be an economic game changer.

A bicycle has the power to literally lift a family out of poverty, said Alan Schultz, the president of Pedals for Progress, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that rescues bicycles forgotten in garages, basements and sheds and ships them to developing countries where they are put to work
powering local economies.

Schultz spoke about the organization and its efforts during a meeting of the Newtown Rotary Club, which is gearing up for its 20th annual used bicycle and sewing machine collection drive on Saturday, October 29.

Over those 20 years the club has collected more than 3,000 used bicycles, according to Rotarian Dr. Jerry Agasar, who has chaired the drive for the past two decades. “I never thought it would be this amazing.”

“Three thousand bicycles. That’s 3,000 lives changed,” said Schultz. “You guys are one of the best and one of our longest running (collection drives).”

This year, donated bikes in Newtown will be going to Togo, Rwanda and Tanzania in Africa and Belize and Guatemala in Central America.

Right now, according to Schultz, millions in third world nations are stuck in an unending cycle of poverty that could be reversed with a simple donation of a bicycle.

That’s where Schultz and the Pedals for Progress organization step in.

P4P collects donated bikes and sewing machines, reconditions them and delivers them to villages in developing third world countries where they are used to transform lives.

Schultz said every family that receives a bike or a sewing machine has the chance to be lifted out of poverty - permanently.

“With a bicycle they can move five times more and push that product to the road faster,” said Schultz. “If you can fundamentally change the movement of goods and services, you have economic growth,” he said.

“And with a sewing machine, they can create their own business. I was just in Tanzania and I met a woman who was able to put all four of her children through school because of her sewing machine,” said Schultz.

To make it all happen, P4P relies on support from the homefront and organizations like the Newtown Rotary Club, which has teamed up with Pedals for Progress for the past 20 years to collect bikes and sewing machines.

This year, the local collection drive takes place on Saturday, Oct. 29 at the parking lot across from Olde Saint Andrew Church, 135 South Sycamore Street in Newtown.

Donated used adult and children’s bikes in repairable condition can be dropped off between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m., rain or shine. In addition, working portable sewing machines will be accepted. Bikes parts, disassembled bikes and rusted bikes won't be accepted.

Donors are asked to chip in a minimum $20 donation to help cover the $40 cost to collect, process, ship, rebuild and distribute each bicycle to impoverished nations in Latin America and Africa.

“You’re really on a roll,” Schultz told the Rotarians. “And now the people you have helped have hope for the future. They are a positive influence on their society because they are earning money, they are paying taxes and they are contributing toward making their country better.

“They don’t want a handout,” Schultz explained. “They want an opportunity to succeed and that’s what a bicycle or sewing machine can do. It’s that simple.”

Last year the club collected more than 160 bikes along with a little more than 20 sewing machines.

“The first time we did this we got about 100 bikes,” said Agasar. “I personally thought it would last a year or two getting bikes from the community. But here we are 20 years later and we’re still collecting.”

Schultz said since Pedals for Progress was formed more than 30 years ago, it has received, processed and donated more than 155,000 bicycles, 4,000 used sewing machines, and $10.8 million in new spare parts to partner charities in developing countries.