All posts by Michael Sabrio

Sewing Machines in Mexico, Spring 2026

June 30, 2026 Michael Sabrio

This spring, we are very happy to announce a shipment of 72 sewing machines that made their way across the border into Mexico. Marking our first shipment of aid to Mexico since 1999 it is an important and exciting milestone as we reflect on our 35 years of donating aid around the world. Through Neighbors Abroad in Oaxaca Mexico, we had an awesome opportunity to give sewing machine aid to women looking to jump-start their introduction into the trade.

For an organization that ships aid around the world, we have had very few opportunities to ship to our direct neighbors down south. It is surprisingly difficult to ship aid to Mexico, especially for smaller non-profits like P4P and Sewing Peace, as there are many more rules and regulations that limit the type of used goods that can be sent. Very specific inventory regulations and various taxes make it more challenging and expensive compared to other regions we ship to. The political climate that has consumed Mexico through my formative years has also made it a quiet goal of mine to donate to our direct neighbors. We’ve simply never had a good chance.

Cue the magic of Rotary. Ken Sanchez with the Rotary Club of North Hunterdon was instrumental in our efforts for this special shipment. Through connections with an organization based in Mexico, Vidas Y Suenos (Lives and Dreams), we were approached to collaborate on a special project.

With Sewing Peace actively looking for new applicants, we had room for a shipment of machines to contribute to this great cause. Graciously supporting the shipment of the machines, the North Hunterdon Rotary Club helped us get these machines to Texas where they would join a batch of other aid heading to Oaxaca.

With special help from the local government of Oaxaca and the ongoing support Neighbors Abroad has established, the organizations were coordinating a package of fire equipment and medical equipment to be sent to the region. With many successful shipments under their belt, their warm welcome made it very easy for us to join in on the initiative.

Beyond being a small rural area in Mexico that greatly needs this kind of aid, the artistic tradition in Oaxaca further cements our excitement to this cause. Providing sewing machines to such an artistic community will extend their use. Investing in the development of skilled artisans helps them sell and market important native and contemporary art that puts food on their families’ plates.

The connections sewn together to make this shipment possible have made for a very successful endeavor that we’re happy to be part of. We’re incredibly thankful for all our donors who came together this past year and donated their beloved sewing machines. On behalf of Neighbors Abroad and Vidas Y Suenos, we’d like to thank you for contributing to the betterment of people in Oaxaca and beyond.

Uncategorized

President’s Message, Spring 2026

June 30, 2026 Michael Sabrio

Dear Pedal People,

Albania Loading 18 April 2026 — Hank, Joel, Alan and Otto. Albania no.18 April ’26 420 bikes donated to Absolute Bikes Tirana

This summer Pedals for Progress will be celebrating 35 years of operation since our founding in July 1991. We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to celebrate this great milestone as we look forward to continuing our mission of sending used bikes and sewing machines to people living in the developing world. Thank you for helping us make a significant difference in the world, rallying behind our modest cause whose humble beginnings in a sleepy town called high bridge resulted in 170,000 bikes and 7,000 sewing machines shipped worldwide.

Fair Lawn Rotary Club Spring ’26 collection. 25 year supporters of P4P!

I’ve always felt that High Bridge was an important backdrop to Pedals for Progress as it informs our small town, community centered, grass roots approach we apply to organizing our collections. As we reflect on our history it is abundantly clear that we must graciously thank the many community groups here in the United States that have helped us collect this wonderful aid across 5 states.

S.R Smith and Alan. Middletown-Odessa-Townsend (MOT) Rotary Club, Delaware.

The small towns I have the pleasure to visit are filled with people looking outward to the developing world. It’s clear that the people who volunteer with us are often the most mindful taking stock of the fruitful harvest we have at our hands living in small-town-USA. It’s always amazing to see people who come together once a year to extend a small portion of this abundance to our friends overseas.

Alan donating bike — Bike donation. San Andrés Itzapa, Guatemala

Looking abroad, we quickly find that our bikes and machines go directly to people like us living in their own emerging small towns. They want to get to work on time, get to class, or maybe just visit a friend across town. The communities we support hold the same kinds of hopes and dreams we garner in our own lives; they just lack mobility. The bicycles and sewing machines we collect are answers to those hopes and dreams.

Alan, Warren Rorden and Aid. Westfield Rotary, 30 year supporters of P4P

We hope that this summer’s newsletter illustrates the wonderful grassroots effort we contribute towards. We are excited to continue this great work around the world and appreciate everyone who has helped make it possible. We have been hard at work distributing from our small corners in the US, to places in Mexico, Rwanda, Tanzania, Belize, Guatemala and Sierra Leonne, putting used bikes and sewing machines to good use. Thank you for 35 years of support!

Sincerely,

Alan Schultz

President, P4P and Sewing Peace

Mexico, Sewing Partners

Sewing Machines to Oaxaca, Mexico

April 28, 2026 Michael Sabrio

On March 13th, 2026, we shipped 72 sewing machines to Oaxaca, Mexico, with the North Hunterdon Rotary Club in support of Neighbors Abroad. With help from local governments, we had a special opportunity to ship to our direct neighbors down south as part of a shipment of humanitarian aid to the region.

Oaxaca is a lively town recognized world-wide as one of Mexico’s creative and artistic centers, known for the region’s fantastical folk art and other highly regarded crafts. Oaxaca and the surrounding region face economic, healthcare, and other challenges typical of developing countries. Our sewing machine aid is a perfect supplement to bolster the economic opportunities a sewing machine can provide in a lively, artistic community.

Business

P4P/SP 2025 Annual Report: 10/01/2024 to 09/30/2025

December 5, 2025 Michael Sabrio

Pedals for Progress, a New Jersey nonprofit corporation, empowers sustainable economic development by recycling bicycles and sewing machines from the U.S. and shipping them to motivated people in the developing world. Pedals for Progress (P4P) is a nonprofit charity incorporated under the laws of New Jersey and registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code (EIN: 22-3122003). An eleven-member unpaid board of trustees oversees a paid staff of 2 and a network of hundreds of volunteers.

2025 HIGHLIGHTS

Pedals for Progress shipped 7 containers and 2 LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments for a total of 3,103 bicycles, and 359 sewing machines, to 4 nonprofit agency partners in 4 developing countries. This brings cumulative donations shipped since 1991 to 171,335 bicycles, 6,878 sewing machines.

We concentrated our collection operations within the New York City and Philadelphia suburbs increasing our efficiency. Our bicycle and sewing machine collections were sponsored by 35 community partners in five states.

2025 Shipments

Recipients of Fiscal 2025 Bicycle Container Shipments

Absolute Bikes Tirana, Tirana, Albania 436 Bikes and 30 Sewing Machines, 435 bikes and 40 sewing machines
FIDESMA, Chimaltenango, Guatemala, 460 bikes and 25 sewing machines, 431 bikes and 30 sewing machines
God Cares Outreach (P4P-Belize), Belize City, Belize 440 bicycles and 30 sewing machines, 465 bikes and 60 sewing machines
GoBike, Kosovo, Pristina, 436 bikes

Started the year 10/1/24 with 119 bicycles in inventory.

Ended the year 9/30/25 with 162 bicycles remaining in inventory.

2025 Total Shipped: 3,103, Total Collected (from scheduled collections): 2,438

Bicycle Shipments by Region

	Fiscal 2025	Fiscal 2024
Africa	0%	53%
Asia	0%	0%
Central America	58%	22%
Eastern Europe	42%	25%

Recipients of Fiscal 2025 Sewing Machine LCL Shipments

Mityana Open Troop Foundation, Uganda (144 sewing machines)
P4P container shipments – 215 sewing machines (see above)

Started the year 10/1/24 with 252 sewing machines in inventory.

Ended the year 9/30/25 with 360 sewing machines in inventory.

2025 Total Shipped: 359, Total Collected: 402

Sewing Machines Shipments by Region

	Fiscal 2025	Fiscal 2024
Africa	40%	82%
Asia	0%	0%
Central America	40%	6%
Eastern Europe	20%	12%

OVERSEAS PARTNERS

During the year, Pedals for Progress continued to serve our smaller reliable partners for the majority of our shipments with the addition of one program that was previously inactive. We have slowly shifted our focus to our longer standing programs to ensure maximum output from our donated material. This more conservative approach will allow us to quickly and effectively ship bicycles to trusted sources, further ensuring donor support is used to its fullest capacity.

The most critical factors in creating a sustainable, self-financing partnership are shipping costs and effective administration by our overseas partners. We currently consider 4 partnerships as sustainable, i.e., capable of paying for successive shipments. Experience has proven that when the shipping costs are at or below $15 per bike or $10 per sewing machine, with good management, this cost is low enough to sustain a self-financing partnership. Without charitable donations, grants or other funding, Pedals for Progress is limited to working primarily in Central America and the Caribbean, while Africa and Eastern Europe require subsidies to pay their higher shipping costs. Overseas distribution success is determined by per unit cost. Landlocked countries remain beyond our reach due to excessive inland transportation costs. Domestic shipping is also expensive; our domestic inland trucking costs to get shipments to port have more than doubled in the last five years.

While our primary goal is to supply environmentally sound transportation to communities and stimulate the greater movement of goods and services, our partners often generate extra funds from the bikes we ship them. These windfall funds, in turn, finance a breadth of community development activities.

Still, we are hopeful that other partner organizations, including some that did not receive bikes in 2025, will pay all or most expenses for new shipments in fiscal 2026, or subsidies will be found to initiate new programs.

CONTINUING PARTNERS

Guatemala: Fundación Integral de Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Oriente (FIDESMA), San Andrés Itzapa, Chimaltenango
Albania: Absolute Bikes Tirana, Tirana
Belize: God Cares Outreach, Belize City
Uganda: The Mityana Open Troop Foundation, Mityana

NEW PARTNERS 2025

P4P was able to take on one “new” program for fiscal 2025. As we have shifted our focus to aiding successful long-term programs, we were comfortable revisiting one with a previous relationship. In fiscal 2025 we were able to return to supporting GoBike in Kosovo, after their brief pause in operations due to covid. With their operations back up and running, we were thrilled to welcome a familiar program to our network of support:

Kosovo: GoBike, Pristina

FINANCES

2025 was a good year for Pedals for Progress finances. We started fiscal 2025 in a good financial position with a strong balance sheet. Our operating income relies on four primary income streams: cash donations with bikes and sewing machines, cash donations from the twice-annual solicitation, corporate donations, and revolving funds and fees from our international partners.

Solicitations remained about the same to our previous year, with larger donations from a couple of long-term supporters helping us meet our solicitation goals. These larger donations continue to be key to our seasonal collection operations as they help us get through slower, yet important winter months. We do forecast some individual support to dwindle but hope to maintain financial security through dollars with bikes and larger individual donations.

Direct corporate donations continue to decrease due to a focus on employee matching programs. We are actively applying to be seen in these employee databases and encourage our supports to nominate P4P for their companies’ giving programs.

Our sustaining international partners are expected to reimburse Pedals for Progress for the cost of containers or LCL shipments. These are categorized as “revolving funds”: the partners save income to pay for successive shipments. This category met expectations as the number of containers shipped to sustaining partners met the plan. Overall, 2025 operating income exceeded budget.

Operating expenses include four large categories: employee and officers’ compensation, shipping and packing, collections expenses, and office rent. Shipping and packing expenses continue to remain high largely due to the increased cost of shipping and fuel. Collection expenses, office rent, and all remaining minor expenses categories met expectations.

P4P in 2025 had a few extraordinary items. P4P has a conservative investment policy. 2025 was a shaky period for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds as they generally maintained value in the long run. These generated some income for P4P as did some of the stock donations.

Overall, 2025 met financial expectations for P4P.

Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss statements are attached.

CORPORATE AND IN-KIND DONORS

FedEx continues to deliver to New Jersey, at no cost, the bicycles collected by the P4P Vermont and the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, based in Burlington, Vermont. We’d like to thank our friends in Vermont and the many other organizations involved in their efforts.

We’d like to thank Martys’ Reliable Cycle and Jesse Epstein for donating store space and time, to help launch drop off sites across their five locations. They have helped us collect 100+ bicycles this fiscal year.

Millburn Public Waste has graciously acted as a drop off location for residents of Millburn and Far Hills and donates lot space and covers the cost of removal shipment overseas.

Mavis in Califon, at no cost, donated trucking maintenance.

Thank you to the many corporations that participate through matching gifts.

We are very thankful for the support of these organizations and the recognition they have given us.

KEY VOLUNTEERS

Pedals for Progress depends on the efforts of volunteers, several hundred of them, to publicize and work collections, prep bikes for shipping, help us warehouse bikes, and eventually load them into containers bound for our partner agencies overseas.

A special thanks to Michael Sabrio for managing at bike collections and maintaining Webmaster duties; Maureen Greenbaum for aiding in online advertisements and expansion efforts.

We thank our Tinkerers Dennis Smyth, Paul Lemaire and Mary O’Brien for their excellent work refurbishing many of the sewing machines we ship.

Thank you to Joanne Heidkamp, Paul Demers, Bob Thompson, and Mary O’Brien for leading, organizing, and executing bicycle and sewing machine procurement throughout the state of Vermont: 224 bikes and 82 sewing machines collected.

We especially thank these collectors:

Jerry Agasar with the Newtown Rotary Club: 122 bikes and 12 sewing machines collected

Casey Walsh with Faith Lutheran Church: 64 bikes and 13 sewing machines

John Greenberg with St. John’s Episcopal Church: 146 bikes and 6 sewing machines collected

Daryl Detrick with the Warren Hills HS Computer Science Club: 112 bikes and 37 sewing machines collected

Ridgewood Recycling: 129 bikes collected

David Hanrahan and Alicia Fichera with the Vineland Rotary Club and DNS Solutions: 102 bikes and 16 sewing machines collected

Kip Bateman and the Branchburg Rotary Club: 146 bikes and 6 sewing machines collected

Stephen Ellerman and the Morristown Rotary Club: 141 bikes and 8 sewing machines collected

PROGRAM CHALLENGES

Pedals for Progress began the year on a strong and positive note and we were able to maintain strong financial standing. We still faced challenges stemming from rippling effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic and its lasting effects on our economy, particularly inflation, and increased prices of gasoline and shipping. There has been a lingering supply chain issue that periodically slows shipments.

Pedals for Progress has been able to maintain a very slim employee base after the full transition of leadership that began in 2022 but still face the need to fundraise for support.

The bicycles collected this year continue to be the highest quality bikes that we have ever collected. The most common brand name was Trek and we collected over 80% mountain bikes in the adult bike category. The vast majority of bikes we collected were originally sold in a bike shop for a relatively high price.

Our spring collection season, while beginning to diminish, has slowly rebounded in success. Our fall collections season has greatly improved and now considered our strong season. The decrease in collection totals for our spring collections season is unknown as sponsorship remained on par with FY24. As we are reliant on the success of collections to keep us financially active, we had to rely heavily on our summer solicitation to help us keep up with our added salary line and general operations.

Encouraging pre-collection efforts with our sponsors continues to be a challenge mostly due to storage restraints on smaller clubs. We hope to find solutions to make drop offs easier for donors. We hope to improve collection efforts by working more closely with our collection sponsors on advertisement and pre-collection efforts.

P4P was fortunate to receive a large one-time donation this spring that further helped our program with decreased bicycle donations felt this spring. This highlights the need for increased individual donations and the importance of fundraising efforts outside our collection efforts.

Pedals for Progress developed partnerships worldwide to diversify relationships and reduce the risk of events in one country or region negatively affecting our operations. Since reduction of transportation costs is doubtful, we are seeking sponsorships to supplement our African and other high cost partnerships. Partner programs in Central America, which have a landed cost of under $15 per bike, are successful financially and require no further subsidies to continue shipments. P4P inland partners in Eastern Europe and Africa will fail without financial support. International shipping costs in these regions run from $16 per bike on the coast to as high as $38 inland (Uganda).

Shipping the sewing machines within bicycles shipments makes the delivery of these heavy objects affordable. However, our bicycle partners need relatively few sewing machines. The challenge is to find the funding to deliver machines to small sewing programs like the Mityana Open Troop Foundation in Uganda or to get them delivered very inexpensively. Most new sewing projects require only two pallets of machines. Due to that low volume, initial shipments were previously shipped via air freight, which is very expensive. P4P developed in 2013 the capacity to ship by boat individual pallets of sewing machines at a very reasonable cost. This low-cost shipping allows us to expand our small standalone sewing machine projects globally.

GOALS FOR 2026

During fiscal 2026, Pedals for Progress plans to ship approximately 3,000 bicycles and 400 sewing machines. Collection sites where we send our personnel will be limited to the greater suburbs of New York and Philadelphia. Bicycles collected outside this region need to be delivered to our New Jersey warehouse by the collection sponsors. We aim to add many more collections sponsors to help us meet these expected goals. We encourage interested individuals or groups to reach out to us to inquire about sponsoring a collection.

We also aim to make donating to Pedals for Progress easier and more convenient. We are slowing introducing drop off programs to do so, but still face financial problems setting up and maintaining these sites.

Pedals for Progress challenges continue to be financial, not supply-side driven. With more funding, we can collect significantly more bikes within our current footprint and initiate more programs internationally. Increasing production requires more staff for attending potential collections and more vehicles on the road. The operational costs of producing the bicycles and sewing machines are significant. P4P is unable to accept bicycles without an accompanying cash donation; this limits production. Our collection efforts that produce the product we deliver. In many ways, you can think of P4P as a trucking company. Every trip in the truck produces more bicycles and sewing machines, our products. These products make the difference globally by helping people in need help themselves.

2025 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Jamie Acosta
Jerry Agasar
John Alexander, chairman
Daryl Detrick
David Schweidenback, treasurer and VP, International Programs
Casey Walsh
Andrew Williams
Thomas Beishke
Ryan Saul, secretary

STAFF

Alan Schultz, President
David Schweidenback, Vice President, International Programs and Founder
Michael Sabrio, Webmaster
Robert Delghiaccio, Warehouseman
Otto Hintz, Warehouseman
Evan Vaccarella, Warehouseman
Joel Ortega. Warehouseman
Paul Salvetti, Warehouseman

Further information about Pedals for Progress is available at www.p4p.org. This includes our financial statements, IRS Form 990s, and information about our 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax-exempt status.

To receive our newsletters or information on how to collect bikes and/or sewing machines, contact alan@p4p.org. To request a donation of a container of bicycles or sewing machines, contact Alan at alan@p4p.org

2025 Balance Sheet

2025 Profit & Loss

Guatemala

Guatemala Intro, Fall 2025

November 22, 2025 Michael Sabrio

Fall 2025 Newsletter

The Spring 2025 Newsletter has lots of information from our good friends in Guatemala about the work they’ve been doing all around the country with used bikes and sewing machines. We recently celebrated 25 years of working with FIDESMA — we’ve shipped them more than 13,000 bicycles since 2000. Here’s the report from Guatemala on their adventures with the arrival this summer of the 26th container and their other activities.

Thanks to your support, we have been able to continue to supply this organization with annual shipments of bicycles and sewing machines. With their new Chimaltenango warehouse and shop, the group’s expansion has put them on track to receive two containers per year to maintain their operations, assuming our production levels can meet demands.

With a 27th shipment already being planned for early December, we are very happy to give yet another update on our longest running program while we prepare. With the increased focus on instability in the countries in the southern half of our hemisphere, I find it incredibly important to keep talking about the programs we support there.

With increased focus on drugs coming across the border from countries all over the global south, our friends in Guatemala and Belize are directly at risk as a forgotten middleman. The men and women we support in these countries feel increased threats as their countries act as a passageway for the flow of drugs to our country.

Putting any one solution aside, Pedals for Progress hopes to help by continuing to lend a helping hand to our neighbors to the south. While it may not seem as direct as what we see in the media, a bike or sewing machine sent to the global south is a helping hand to someone in need. Aiding our friends to help build their countries up, not down, is a way in which we can help make all our homes stronger and safer.

While the solutions are endless, this is how we can help with our bikes and sewing machines. I’d like to thank you for supporting our neighbors in Central America. You will see that it does not come without challenges, unexpected delays and financial constraints but nevertheless, we hope to continue to serve them in any capacity we can. It may be a small drop in a big bucket, but the ripples it creates are lasting.

Albania, Belize, Guatemala, Kosovo

Short Updates, Fall 2025

November 21, 2025 Michael Sabrio

Our full bicycle shipping results for Fall 2025

Albania

Absolute Bikes Tirana – Tirana, Albania
Founded by former members of Ecovolis, this community driven shop promotes cycling, environmentalism, tourism, and philanthropy.
436 Bikes and 30 Sewing Machines
435 bikes and 40 sewing machines

Belize

God Cares Outreach (P4P-Belize) – Belize City, Belize
Supports people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and denominations, united in spreading hope, faith, love and now, bicycles and sewing machines, to the people of Belize.
440 bicycles and 30 sewing machines
465 bikes and 60 sewing machines

Kosovo

GoBike – Kosovo, Pristina
A community-focused bike shop serving people in Europe’s young and growing nation of Kosovo.
436 bikes

Guatemala

FIDESMA – Chimaltenango, Guatemala:
The Foundation for Sustainable Development and the Environment provides community aid through various support programs and their ECOBICI bike shop.
460 bikes and 25 sewing machines
431 bikes and 30 sewing machines

Thank you for helping us support affordable cycling around the globe.

Collectors

Westfield Rotary: 30 years of collections

November 21, 2025 Michael Sabrio

Fall 2025 Newsletter

This past fall we celebrated 30 years with the Westfield Rotary Club. On 10/4/25, the club hosted another wonderful collection that brought in 98 bicycles and 5 sewing machines! This brought the club’s total collection well over 3,000 bicycles that have been gathered and donated throughout the Westfield area since their start in the spring of 1995.

Warren Rorden of the Westfield Club has been largely responsible for the club’s collection efforts. A resident of Westfield for most of his life, his family moved to the area from Queens so his father could work at Bell Labs during the war effort.

Warren grew up in the area and from a young age was involved in the community. He shared a story with us from his youth growing up in Westfield in the 50s. As classic as American pie, Warren founded the town’s first hot rod club with his friends and classmates, called the Piston Pushers. With a love for cars, the group of high schoolers would drive around town and onto the newly established Garden State Parkway to find broken-down motorists and offer a helping hand. The Piston Pushers spent time showcasing their cars in parking lots and even replacing entire engines in neighborhood driveways. It was an early sign of a young man dedicated to helping his community through a shared passion for cars and machines.

Years later, as a member of the Westfield Rotary Club, Warren was introduced to our program after a presentation by our founder. Upon hearing about P4P, Warren caught the infectious spirit of supporting the mission to collect used bicycles for people in the developing world. With a mechanical mind that understood the value of a vehicle, and a heart for his community, Warren was off and running, collecting bicycles for people in need.

Westfield Rotary Collection October 2014 — Westfield Rotary, Oct 11, 2014

Over the years, Warren has led the Westfield Rotary Club’s annual collection events. For three decades, the club has held successful drives, averaging around 100 bikes each year, in the small parking lot of the Westfield Board of Education building.

As with any good Rotarian, Warren brought the rest of the community into the effort. Beyond engaging individual donors in and around town, he built broader community support. With help from the Westfield Police Department and Jay’s Cycle, he nurtured a network that comes together each year for international outreach. He often credits various former mayors and his longtime friend Bill Bansall for being instrumental in early collections.

Warren and the Westfield Club remain committed to their community beyond P4P. With yearly food drives, volunteer work at local food banks, and generous grants for local charities and scholarship programs for students, the club covers all bases when it comes to community aid.

Today, the club is still deeply active in Westfield, and Warren, now approaching 90 years old, is still involved where he can be, even showing up to a No Kings rally despite limited mobility. Passing the torch, he has enlisted the help of club member Walter Korfmichale to help organize and run future collections.

We’re incredibly proud of the work Warren has done over the years. P4P would like to thank him and the Westfield Rotary Club for their decades of commitment. Thirty years, 3,000 bicycles, and tens of thousands of dollars raised is no small feat. Thank you, Warren, for your dedication to helping others around the block and around the world. Thousands of people from Central America to rural Africa have felt the impact of Westfield’s generosity. Cheers to a great legacy!

Rwanda

Rwanda Update, Fall 2025: New Container

November 21, 2025 Michael Sabrio

Fall 2025 Newsletter

October 2025: 429 bikes and 101 sewing machines are headed to Rwanda! After a flurry of delays, we completed a rare weekday loading on Tuesday, 10/28/25, and the shipment is now on its way to our friends at the Rwandan Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA). Marking our third shipment to this incredible conservation group, we’re proud to continue growing our involvement with their efforts. Many of these bikes will help rangers access a wider range of conservation areas to log and track wildlife, including the group’s main initiative: protecting the endangered gray crowned crane.

Our partnership with RWCA began in 2021. On May 15th, 2021, we made our very first shipment to Rwanda: 503 bikes and 43 sewing machines. A year later, we followed up with another container of 452 bicycles and 60 sewing machines.

As with many new programs, the first two shipments came with challenges. Rwanda’s inland shipping costs are significantly higher than most of our partner countries, and many of the items sent early on were only distributed only within the RWCA network. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm and dedication of RWCA remained strong. When Olivier reached out requesting a third shipment, with their funding ready and a new distribution plan proposed, we knew this partnership was moving forward with purpose and vision.

“We still have many of the bikes in action. Our rangers and community conservation champions use them daily. In fact, I still use one myself, even though it is falling apart and I really need a new one! In a few villages, there have been challenges finding spare parts or skilled mechanics, but we have been training some of the community members to address these issues.

The sewing machines are also being put to good use. We currently have about 47 women organized in sewing cooperatives, and some of the machines you sent are still being used regularly.

We do have funds available for shipping…Moving forward, we are planning to shift our model slightly — we would like to distribute half of the bikes and sell the other half locally. This would allow us to generate funds to cover the cost of future containers. We are also looking to use some of the bikes in our tourism business, renting them out to visitors and using the income to support future shipments.” – Dr. Oliver Nsengimana

This thoughtful feedback highlights RWCA’s commitment to long-term sustainability both in conservation and in community empowerment. Their new approach will allow future shipments to be partially self-funded while expanding the reach of their programs.

In addition to bicycle distribution, RWCA has launched a sewing machine initiative to create alternative economic opportunities for local residents. Since the pandemic, the organization has observed increased illegal activity in the Rugezi Marsh, which many nearby communities rely on for natural resources. To protect this fragile ecosystem, RWCA established a cooperative model that provides alternative income sources. The sewing machines we send help strengthen this effort, giving families new ways to earn a living without relying so heavily on the marsh.

Thanks to your donations, we’re able to put used bikes and sewing machines to good use in Rwanda. Beyond providing transportation, your support helps protect some of life’s greatest treasures, from the Rugezi Marsh to the iconic gray crowned crane. Thank you for helping us uplift communities while supporting vital conservation efforts.

pedals for progress

All posts by Michael Sabrio

Sewing Machines in Mexico, Spring 2026

President’s Message, Spring 2026

Sewing Machines to Oaxaca, Mexico

P4P/SP 2025 Annual Report: 10/01/2024 to 09/30/2025