By Alan Schultz
Summer 2021 Newsletter
In the world of Pedals for Progress, cool overcast days bring the potential for amazing collections. Sunny spring weekends give a good excuse to enjoy the day, spend the day outdoors, and have a leisurely time. On the inverse, on cloudy days people are more prone to staying indoors and getting to that long list of things to do around the house. We hope that list includes donating their old bicycles and sewing machines that have been getting pushed to the end of the to-do list. While we hope for days like these, overcast days can also bring cold rain. We operate collections rain or shine! We understand rainy collections can be difficult for volunteers and are always thankful that despite rain our volunteers push through and prevail. The payoff for operating in these conditions can sometimes be very fruitful. This was certainly the case in New Providence, New Jersey, when our friends at the Faith Lutheran church were able to hold one of the largest collections in recent years.
On May 8th, during a cold rainy collection, Faith Lutheran Church was able to collect 402 bicycles for the weekend! Over the short three-hour collection, they maintained a donation rate of nearly one bike per minute! Our collections vary greatly and can bring in anywhere from 30–150 bicycles. These numbers are typically met by a combination of luck, good planning, and most importantly — motivated hosts. The folks at Faith Lutheran Church knocked it out of the park and were able to go above and beyond for this collection.
Pedals for Progress is greatly appreciative of this great number of bicycles collected. 400 bicycles are close to what we typically send in one single container to our partners overseas. In one weekend, Faith Lutheran was able to directly impact the lives of hundreds of people associated with our partners overseas in the developing world. This collection alone was a major contributor to our loading to Rwanda and helped make possible an early shipment to Togo. What was expected to be an unpredictable, perhaps even slow, spring collection season due to Covid-19 was instantly turned around by the efforts made by Faith Lutheran Church. The rain that hit during the collection was no match for the dedicated people in the community of New Providence that came out to donate their bicycles. They directly impacted the communities in Rwanda and Togo, who, like all of us, have been in a state of uncertainty due to our global pandemic. These early shipments have brought great hope and relief to those reliant on receiving new bicycles as communities abroad have also felt the economic effects of Covid-19.
Pedals for Progress would also like to give special thanks to Casey Walsh, who manages the collection efforts at Faith Lutheran. Casey is proof that motivated hosts can change a typical collection into an extraordinary one. While not required as part of running a collection, Casey used some of his free time to personally collect bicycles and provide the necessary funds before the collection weekend. His efforts not only brought in an extra hundred or so bikes, but also spread the word of P4P and Sewing Peace. He is a true advocate of our organization and is very passionate about helping our cause. We thank him dearly.
Casey’s motivation certainly rubs off on the members of Faith Lutheran Church. I was able to talk with some of the other members volunteering during the end of the rainy collection when we had some time after the bustling event. They were all incredibly excited to help process the bicycles for shipment and manage the heavy flow of bicycles. Behind the scenes, Casey was also able to encourage the church’s public relations team to spread the word about the collection. They reached a wide audience in the community,
encouraging them to come out and support the collection drive. Creating motivation within a group is not always an easy endeavor but Casey was able to raise morale and host a collection worth talking about.
We look forward to working with Faith Lutheran Church again in the future and again thank them for their time and dedication to Pedals for Progress. It is not a common occurrence that we get collections of 402 bicycles — we commend them for their work.