Peneno Pedals for Progress Bike Collection

On Sunday April 27, 2013 The Rotary Club of Fair Lawn’s Peneno Pedals for Progress Used Bicycle Collection was held at the Edison school in conjunction with the Pedals for Progress organization (P4P).  Fair Lawn Rotarians collected 27 used and servicable bicycles to assist those in third world countries needing basic transportation to get to and from work and school. We were also lucky enough to have collected two sewing machines; in 1999, P4P sent its first sewing machine and discovered that these machines are in demand in the same places where the donated bicycles have changed so many lives for the better. Plenty of unwanted portable sewing machines exist in people’s homes. And like the bicycles, they’re often headed for a landfill. By collecting these sewing machines, Fair Lawn Rotary and Pedals for Progress can piggyback them onto the bike shipments destined for recipient projects. Once there, seamstresses and tailors alike can acquire their most valuable tool and begin a business. Students can learn to sew—many of these machines will outfit programs in schools, teaching people a valuable skill they can use anywhere.

These bikes and sewing machines are shipped overseas and are given to P4P partner agencies and distributed at low cost to poor working adults. The bikes provide them with reliable transportation for commuting to work, transporting produce to market, or accessing health care and other services.  Steady employment for these adults is vital to the development and success for these growing economies. More information about pedals for progress can be found at the Pedals for Progress website: www.p4p.org.
 

Peneno Pedals for Progress Used Bicycle Collection is one of the many international humanitarians programs undertaken by The Rotary Club of Fair Lawn that have a direct impact in improving the lives of people across the globe.

Learn more about The Rotary Club of Fair Lawn and how you can help others around the corner and across the globe at www.clubrunner.ca/fairlawn or visit us at our weekly Thursday lunch meetings, which start at 12:15 pm at the Fair Lawn Athletic Club, next to the library on Parmelee Avenue.

To contact the Club: E-mail: fairlawnrotarians@gmail.com or US Postal Service: PO Box 831, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410