Used Bikes Collected
To Send to 3rd World
By Sandy Vondrasek Cooch

Gene Bianco is a practical man—"a bricks and mortar kind of guy," quipped the owner of Chimney Savers in Randolph—and when it comes to charity, he likes practicality as well.

Three years ago, Bianco found a cause he could get behind: Pedals for Progress, an organization that ships used bikes to folks in developing countries worldwide. Bianco will host his third annual bike collection for the New Jersey based non-profit Saturday, Sept. 8, at his Chimney Savers location on Route 66.

At his first bike drop-off day in 2005, Bianco collected 45 bikes. Last year it was 51 bikes, and this year Bianco wants lots more.

Since it was founded in 1991, Pedals for Progress has shipped more than 108,000 bikes to dozens of countries, including El Salvador, Uganda, and Columbia.

The non-profit’s website, www.p4p.org, reports that "Every year, Americans buy 22 million new bicycles and discard millions of old ones, abandoning many more in basements, sheds, and garages.

Most of these bikes, points out P4P founder David Schweidenback, end up in our already overburdened landfills.

Schweidenback, a former Peace Corps volunteer, notes that those who receive donated bikes use them to get to work, health clinics, to school, or to get their products to market. Some are modified into mini-taxis, wheelchairs, carts, or power generators for simple machines.

"I’ve always approached this as an economic development project," Schweidenback wrote in a website posting. "You can hold a job once you have something to get there with."

Pedals for Progress maximizes the economic development power of its program by setting up bike repair shops in other countries, rather than just handing out bikes to individuals.

Each new bike shop, operating under the aegis of a non-profit in that country, receives its first container of 450 used bikes for free. The shop must buy subsequent shipments, using proceeds from selling and fixing bikes.

Gene Bianco said he found out that the bikes he collected last year were part of a shipment that went to Mogadishu, Somalia.

Bianco said he knows there are lots more unused bikes around here that are doing nothing but collecting rust and dust. This program is a great way to get rid of them, he pointed out.

Finding it hard to part with that old bike in the garage? Bianco doesn’t have much patience with that: "Dig them out—come ON!" he said.

Bianco will accept used bikes in at least fair condition 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Sept. 8. He requests that donors bring along $10, as well, to cover part of the cost of shipping bike containers overseas.

Bianco’s Chimney Savers is next to the Randolph Area Chamber of Commerce building. Look for signs.

For more information, call Bianco at 728-3900.