Category Archives: Peace Corps

bicycles, Business, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

Progress Report for End of Fiscal Year 2017

On 30 September 2017 we closed the books for fiscal year 2017. (The P4P fiscal year runs from October 1st through September 30th.)

In 2017 we collected 12% more bikes and 55% more sewing machines than in 2016.

Fiscal 2018 starts with a bang: on 23 September 2017 the Vermont Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers collected 253 bikes and an astounding 168 sewing machines, all of which is en route to New Jersey. Because it is not yet in our warehouse it cannot be counted as 2017 production, so it will give us a great start to 2018.

Bicycles
Fiscal Year 2016
2016 Total Bikes Shipped 2,760
2016 Bikes Collected 3,130
9/30/2016 Bikes in Inventory 590
Fiscal Year 2017
2017 Total Bikes Shipped 3,644
2017 Bikes Collected 3,531
9/30/2017 Bikes in Inventory 477

Sewing Machines
Fiscal Year 2016
2016 Total Sewing Machines Shipped 285
2016 Sewing Machines Collected 327
9/30/2016 Sewing Machines in Inventory 67
Fiscal Year 2017
2017 Total Sewing Machines Shipped 533
2017 Sewing Machines Collected 511
9/30/2017 Sewing Machines in Inventory 45
Kyrgyzstan, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

Kyrgyzstan, a land beyond

by David Schweidenback
Fall 2016 InStitch

In preparing for this newsletter I tried to reach out to a number of programs from a number of years ago trying to get some feedback as to the longevity of the sewing machines we ship. Programs are always excited when they receive a shipment but my goal was to ask how they would feel about it six or eight years later. Did it really help? The main problem in this attempt was finding some degree of connectivity. People change email addresses and in many of the places we work people are not looking at their email every day; in fact they might not even have email.

In 2008 with the aid of a Peace Corps volunteer named Roberto Hernandez, Pedals for Progress shipped 25 sewing machines to Cholopon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan. I know Roberto is back in the United States, and I’m pretty sure he’s in Los Angeles, but do you have any idea how many people named Roberto Hernandez there are in Los Angeles and the surrounding area? This type of research is fraught with dead ends.

Then one day not too long ago an email appeared from Nurila Choloponkulova from SOS Kinderhof, which ran the program in 2008. She certainly remembers the program. It was designed to bring in women who needed to learn a skill, teach them to sew and then return them to their villages to practice their new talents. Nurila understood what I was looking for but these ladies left to go home with their sewing machines eight years ago.

With a bit of searching and traveling around, Nurila was able to find eight women who still owned the sewing machine and had been using them every day to earn a living since 2008! I was astounded; at least a third of the sewing machines were still functioning after eight years! And quite possibly many more; she just hasn’t yet found them.

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And the final result of my searching is the incredible story of Jipargul.

Jipargul is a mother of six children. Her husband passed away, leaving her with the responsibility to care and provide for their children. Because of the time needed to care for six children, she had not been able to find steady employment, making it difficult for their basic needs to be met. She could not find any help in her small village in the mountains, so she came to the Family Strengthening Program (FSP) to receive training and support.

Through FSP, she enrolled in sewing classes where she learned how to professionally produce and alter clothing, traditional Kyrgyz mats/blankets and souvenirs. After completing her courses, she was one of the only villagers in her area to know how to perform this important work. So she went from being an unemployed struggling mother to a successful business owner providing for the needs of her community.

Without the donated sewing machines from Sewing Peace, none of this would have been possible. Not only did these machines allow for the Family Strengthening Project to offer courses, but extra machines were given to beneficiaries like Jipargul so that they could work at home while raising their children.

With the success of her business, Jipargul was able to move out of her two-room apartment to a larger house. The generous donations from Sewing Peace have changed the lives of Jipargul and her family, and ultimately the community that she is serving stitch by stitch.

Postscript: with connection to SOS Kinderhof reestablished, and the continuing generous support of our donors, it was just a natural instinct to make another shipment of sewing machines. On July 18, 2016, an additional 30 sewing machines arrived in Cholopon-Ata to further promote the Family Strengthening Program of SOS Children Village Cholpon-Ata. This is an expensive program, as everything going to Kyrgyzstan must be sent airfreight, but with such a record of success, how can we not continue the program. This second shipment will be distributed in the Issyk-Kul region.

bicycles, Fiji, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

Bula Vinaka from Fiji

Spring 2016 InGear

My name is Percival Epeli Navolo and I reside on the beautiful tropical land known as the Fiji Islands.

2016springFijiBikeGroupLife here on the Island has not fully modernized in certain areas compared to larger countries and many of us live day to day. Here on the Island income levels are low and many do not have the privilege of high-level education, so they cannot get good jobs. Still they have the capacity and capability of man and will power. I have involved myself in the sport of cycling for 30 years and have seen the benefits the sport brings, physically, mentally and environmentally. With the firm boosting support from the NGO organizations Pedals for Progress and Friends of Fiji, many Fijians now have a milestone opportunity to have their lives transformed.

I am formerly the president for a nationally recognised club known as the Nadi Cycling Club. We just got a 40-foot container provided by Pedals for Progress, Friends of Fiji, Green Mountain Peace Corps Volunteers, and Clif Bar Family Foundation. The container had 440 various species of bicycles and 68 perfectly operabable sewing machines.

With these materials the club can now fulfill our 3 basic goals:

  • Help unemployed youths avoid violence, and instead train them in the field of bike mechanics, the bicycle trade, and the development of the sport in the country.

  • Provide inexpensive, good-quality bicycles to low-income earners who need transportation to distant job locations. Besides giving them efficient transportation, bikes also help maintain their physical fitness.

  • And most importantly, advocate a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation, to lessen the release of harmful gases into the atmosphere, reducing damage to the ozone layer.

2016springFijiSewingGroupWe believe that each individual effort can make a difference. We were also blessed to have the first-hand privilege of helping unemployed widows who struggle to put food on their tables to feed their little young loved ones. With a source of income, these talented ladies can now use these sewing machines and sell garments they sew. Though it may not be hundreds or millions a day, the lovely smiles of relief on their faces gave us a humble relief that it was more than enough.

So we encourage all the donors and volunteers who have contributed to making a difference in individual lives all over the world to continue their hand in creating smiles and happiness.

So from the Nadi Cycling Club here in the Fiji Islands, we would like to convey a Big Vinaka Vakalevu to Pedals for Progress, Friends of Fiji, Clif Bar Family Foundation, Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and all the contributors for their extensive support in helping us here in the Fiji Islands move forward towards a better tomorrow.

bicycles, Fiji, Peace Corps

A 23-year Relationship with Fiji

by David Schweidenback
Fall 2015

One of the things about Pedals for Progress that makes us most proud is the tenure of commitment we share with our partners overseas. Indeed, our oldest partner, EcoBici, in Rivas, Nicaragua, has been receiving shipments regularly since 1992: in the last 23 years, we’ve delivered 24,214 bikes and 182 sewing machines there.

After Nicaragua, the second nation that we shipped bicycles to was Fiji back in 1993. In those days the port facilities had not been improved since World War II and the cranes were only capable of lifting 20-foot containers. Between 1993 and 2002, we made six shipments of bicycles to Fiji totaling 1,012 bicycles.

The program started out as a Junior Achievement Project and has been continuing ever since. Percy Navolo, the director of the Nadi Cycling Club, dedicated himself to the sport of cycling and the promotion of cycling in Fiji. Indeed, even more than the distribution of bikes and the promotion of cycling in general, Percy has engaged at risk youth into the sport of cycling by training them to be bicycle mechanics.

We had not heard from Percy in over a decade but he wrote to us this summer expressing his desire to receive another container of bicycles to push the program forward again. Beyond training youth, Percy is keenly aware of the daily stress on the many Fijians who lack basic transportation. The Nadi Cycling Club will use the bicycles in the training of its students but also will distribute the bicycles to the general local population as basic transportation.

Percy had saved up a little over half of the cost of shipping the 40-foot container. The Friends of Fiji, a national organization of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Fiji, has once again stepped up to the plate with funding to help with the shipping costs. So, too, has the Clif Bar Family Foundation, whose financial support has made Pedals for Progress more nimble, agile, and flexible over the last 10 years. Their assistance greatly extends the reach of Pedals for Progress and has allowed many more containers to reach those in need.

2015 Oct 24 Loading Fiji ContainerWhile the majority of the bikes were collected for Pedals for Progress by service clubs such as Rotary, religious institutions, and state agencies, 140 bikes in this shipment were collected by the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (GMRPCV). This unplanned bonus closes the circle for Peace Corps involvement in all phases of the Pedals for Progress program: collection, consolidation, shipping, and distribution. The Green Mountain RPCVs held their annual Pedals for Progress bicycle collection in late September. The third goal of the Peace Corps is to take what you learned while serving and continue the mission. I, as a former Peace Corps volunteer, take the third goal very seriously and have dedicated my life to economic development in the Developing World. So two organizations in the United States, GMRPCV and P4P, while pursuing the third goal of the Peace Corps, will have a dramatic impact on the first goal of the Peace Corps, which is to create positive change. It is so satisfying when it all comes together.

2015 Oct 24 Fiji Container LoadedSo today, October 24th, 2015, we loaded a container with 440 bicycles and 68 sewing machines bound for Fiji. A special thank you to the Vineland and Westfield Rotary clubs in New Jersey, the Middletown Rotary Club in Delaware, and the Newtown Rotary Club in Pennsylvania, who kindly donated the volunteer effort to collect the bikes and sewing machines that allowed this shipment to happen. The shipment, while a small drop in a very big bucket of need, will allow at least 500 families to help themselves with sustainable basic transportation and many more with sewing machines. That is all they ever ask for, a helping hand, not a hand out.

bicycles, Moldova, Peace Corps

Reporting from Moldova

by Carol Stadden, Peace Corps Volunteer
Spring 2015 InGear

Greetings from your roving Moldoveneasc Peace Corps volunteer reporter.

Moldovan teens out for a ride
Moldovan teens out for a ride

It is the middle of winter in Grozesti but that does not stop people from riding their bikes. Many of the roads are impossible to navigate with a bike but the main road, which has been under construction since I arrived, August of 2013, is almost complete! Many of the boys who helped to repair our shipment of bikes were part of the road construction crew. They would ride their new bikes to and from spreading stones and pouring tar this past summer. I know because I saw them on the days that I took a group of younger boys and girls to participate in a different “Hill Challenge” each week. Now that the kids had bikes with gears, they could actually ride their bikes up all the hills that surround our village. You cannot go more than 2k before you hit a steep incline. We crowned a “King and Queen of the Hills”. They were not awarded a polka-dot jersey but instead a bicycle gear pouch and inner tubes—compliments of the P4P shipment we received in June!

Taking his granddaughter to kindergarten
Taking his granddaughter to kindergarten

Fifteen of the bikes were sold to an enterprising Moldovan who will use them to improve tourism in the country. He helps pensioners rent out their vacant homes. He hopes the bikes will add more interest for potential tourists if they are placed at some of these “Hai la Tara” rentals.

With our shipment of 475 bicycles we also received about 70 sewing machines. All but 10 were distributed throughout the community. These 10 were earmarked for a sewing class at the high school. I recently helped the French professor write a grant for equipment to create a modern sewing classroom. We won the grant and will soon have sewing tables, fabric and thread, storage bins, mannequin, excellent lighting, a laptop, printer/scanner, and projector and screen. The class has started and the children are very excited. We were pleased to find that 6 boys were eager to take the class stating that they would like to design clothes someday. We will not only teach sewing and design techniques but entrepreneurial training as well. We want to give choices to the children who will not study at university after graduation. With the skills they learn in the sewing class they could possibly start their own business!

Migration is a huge problem for this country; we want to see the youth stay in Moldova. With the completion of the road this summer, I expect to see even more bikes out and about than ever before. So many people ride bikes in our village now that a sign was erected to warn incoming traffic. Isn’t it great! Bun Ziua!

bicycles, Peace Corps

The Borough of High Bridge Green Award, 1/22/15

P1110921David Schweidenback is hereby the recipient of the High Bridge Environmental Commission’s eighth annual Borough of High Bridge Green Award for 2014 in recognition of his continuing dedication to promoting environmental preservation.

David Schweidenback was “Caught Being Green” by fellow residents who nominated him for this award for his ongoing environmental actions. David’s Pedals for Progress organization founded in 1991 rescues bicycles destined for overburdened US landfills and ships them to developing countries where they are sorely needed and highly valued. P4P Bikes are put to work not only is basic transportation, but are used as a supplement to school and community programs.

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The Environmental Commission recognizes that David has had the distinguished honor of being twice invited delegate to the International Convention of Environmental Laureates in 2012 and 2013.

The Mayor and Council of the Borough of High Bridge, County of Hunterdon and and the State of New Jersey sincerely appreciate his commitment to reducing the amount of trash we generate and creating an awareness for environmentally sound transportation.

Mark Desire, Mayor

bicycles, Peace Corps

Green Mountain RPCVs Collect 3,000th Bicycle

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The Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers held their 16th annual used bike and sewing machine collection for Pedals for Progress on Saturday, September 27, 2014, in Essex Junction, Vermont. During the 4 hour event, community members donated 169 bikes and 29 sewing machines.

A highlight of the day was the donation of the 3,000th bike the group has collected – a bright red Schwinn. The surprised donor was greeted by a cheering group of volunteers, and was presented with a Pedals for Progress ceramic mug.

Since their first collection in 1999, the group has shipped 3,143 bikes and 78 sewing machines to Pedals for Progress from northern Vermont. FedEx has donated the shipping of all of these bikes from Vermont to New Jersey and for the past few years they’ve had exuberant help on collection day from teenage members of Ripple, a local ecumenical youth group.

 

2014 3000th bike

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bicycles, Moldova, Peace Corps

Moldova Shipment Arrives

by Carol Stadden, Peace Corps Volunteer
InGear Fall 2014

Walking down the street, strangers stop me and ask when the bikes will arrive. They thank me, sometimes with a hug or even a kiss on the hand. Everyone hopes to buy at least one bike and they are eager for them to come. The school basement has been cleared and new locks have been purchased for the doors as we await our “Christmas in June”. Something like this doesn’t happen every day in a small village like Grozesti!

The Diamond Challenge team made headlines in America. Grozesti proudly sent the winning Moldovan team of young entrepreneurs to compete in the National Diamond Challenge competition at the University of Delaware the end of April. Their winning business concept was to open a bicycle repair/rental business using the bikes from P4P to start their venture. Tudor and Tamara got to spend their first day in the US with David, president of P4P! He took them on a scenic tour of High Bridge and to see where the bikes are loaded into crates. David taught them the easiest way to price the bikes once they arrive in Moldova, “Close your eyes and feel the weight of the bike; the lighter it feels, the more expensive it is”. Tudor and Tamara spent the night at David’s home and both said they would never forget his wife’s pancakes! In the morning they were whisked off to Delaware for a tour of the college campus and the following day the team took third place in the competition! Even though they did not win, they gained valuable knowledge about starting a business and they had a trip of a lifetime; it was a dream that came true for them.

Volunteers put pedals back onto the bikes in Moldova.
Volunteers put pedals back onto the bikes in Moldova.

In early May flyers were posted in our village and neighboring villages describing P4P and the shipment of bikes and sewing machines. Raffle tickets were sold to give away one free bike in order to generate funds and more excitement–if that was even possible!

We sold over 1,000 tickets. When the truck pulled up on June 12th, young and old gathered at the school to help unload the crate and to get a good look at its contents. Before the school’s summer break I spoke to each of the senior classes to find my crew of mechanics and sales people. My inventory team arrived and we began the long process of numbering and cataloging each bike. Pricing came later. No one can believe how beautiful the bikes are or that they are “used”.

Children trying out their new bikes
Children trying out their new bikes

My team of 12 mechanics worked like a well oiled machine. We had all the bikes repaired in two days! Tickets were sold in advance and the first five winners were waiting patiently with a stream of onlookers behind them. Each new bike owner was interviewed so in the future we will be able to monitor the usefulness of the P4P program and help P4P determine if it is achieving its mission goals. The entire container of bikes, which seemed enormous when it first arrived, completely disappeared over the weekend.

Everyone left happy. 50 bikes were purchased by an innovative entrepreneur who will rent the bikes to tourists who stay in his network of rental homes (Hai la tara). They are beautiful vacant homes dotted throughout Moldova belonging to grannies on a pension. This money supplements their meager incomes.

I am now working with a young woman who wants to help stem the tide of human trafficking in Moldova by teaching the young girls (and boys) in our village to sew. She will teach classes at the school and open a small shop. Her shop will provide needed jobs making it unnecessary to migrate in order to find work! So this is the summer when Grozesti became “the village where everyone rides a bike”.