Pedals for Progress Bike Drive Saturday June 17

Anyone with an adult or child's bicycle in repairable condition is urged to donate his or her bike to Pedals for Progress for this worthy cause. Bikes can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Saturday June 17, RAIN OR SHINE, at the West Windsor Community Farmers' Market, on Vaughn Drive off Alexander Road in the parking lot of the Princeton Junction Train Station.

Pedals for Progress collects over 11,000 bicycles annually and has shipped more than 95,000 bicycles to developing countries in Latin American, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. Partner agencies in these countries train community members to recondition the bikes and distribute them at low cost to poor working adults. The bikes provide reliable transportation for the recipients, who use them for commuting to school and work, taking produce to market, or accessing heath care and other services. Pedals for Progress cannot accept “bikes for parts” or disassembled bikes. It costs $28 to collect, process, ship, rebuild and distribute each bicycle. A donation toward shipping costs is necessary (suggested minimum $10 per bike). All cash and material donations are fully tax deductible and a receipt will be available at the collection site. PfP also accepts working portable sewing machines.

The drive is sponsored by the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance. Members and volunteers will help donors unload their bicycles and prepare them for shipping. Last year at the drive in this location 130 bicycles were collected and were shipped to a "second life" in Uganda.

To volunteer to help with the collection or find out more about donating a bike, please contact Susan Conlon by telephone at (609) 936-1916 or by email at susieoco@aol.com; or Ken Carlson by telephone at (609) 275-6355 or email at kecarlson@comcast.net.