Used Bikes and Sewing Machine Collection for Developing Countries

The Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers  

will be collecting used bikes and sewing machines

for self-help programs in the developing world

Saturday, September 29th

9 am till 1 pm in 345 Pine Street, Burlington, VT

The group asks for a $10 donation with each bike or sewing machine donated,

in order to help defray the cost of shipping.

How you can help:

• Donate your bike or sewing machine plus $10 for shipping at the event on September 24th.
• Get the word about this event out at your workplace, congregation, neighborhood, sports team.
• No bike to donate? Hold a little fundraiser to help with shipping. Make checks to Pedals for Progress.
• Sign up to Volunteer on the day of the event

Where do the Bikes and Sewing Machines Go?

• Pedals for Progress currently has non-profit partner programs in Albania, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Moldova, Uganda, Vietnam.  Sewing machines also go to Cameroon, Georgia, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, St. Vincent, and Yemen. These partner organizations manage bike repair and distribution.

How are the bikes used? A few examples:

• Transportation to school for students who might otherwise face a 5 - 10-mile walk at the beginning and end of the school day.  Students with bikes are far more likely to continue their education past the primary grades.
• Bikes provide a more efficient way for subsistence farmers and craftspeople to get their products to markets.
• Bikes from P4P have become the basis of delivery businesses, pedicabs, and mobile vendors.
• Bikes allow healthcare workers to spend more time with patients and less time walking from village to village
• In 2014, Rangers at Paso Pacífico in southwestern Nicaragua were provided with bikes from P4P to make it easier for them to patrol the coastal areas where endangered sea turtles nest, to prevent poaching.

How are the Sewing Machines used? A few examples:

• In Moldova, which has the highest rate of young women victimized by human trafficking in Eastern Europe, sewing machines are part of a project to provide young women with the skills to earn a living locally.
• In Kyrgyzstan, sewing machines were used to create a cooperative where unemployed women can learn to sew. The co-op produces and sells household linens in the community.
• In Honduras, Honduras, secondary school students are required to buy a uniform. This cost prevents some students from continuing their education. A non-profit called Abuelas in Action has set up sewing groups that make uniforms at a fraction of the cost – allowing more students to attend school, while also providing the women with a marketable skill.