Contact: Jenni Brockman St. Margaret's publications staff member and assistant web page designer,
Hollis Duncan, recently decided to do something about the rusty bikes lying
around the school's campus. Former students left the bicycles behind, most of them entry-level mountain bikes. Typically, each bicycle had incurred one or two malfunctions that prohibited its use - flat tires, bent rims and spokes, missing pedals, deteriorated cables, and dirty, rust-laden chains were common problems. Fourteen abandoned bicycles were identified that have not moved from storage in the security racks located outside of Anderton House and Latané Hall dormitories for several years. Each of the bicycles showed signs of advanced corrosion as a consequence of extended exposure to the elements. "All 14 bikes were in a state of disrepair and in need of lubrication and a professional bike mechanic", said Mr. Duncan. "It was a shame to see good bicycles gathering rust. We don't have the resources to fix them here [St. Margaret's], so I decided to look for a charitable organization that would accept the bikes and put them to good use." Mr. Duncan decided to make telephone calls and surf the internet to locate a charitable organization that would accept the bicycles. With help from Courtney Thompson, an SMS sophomore from Germantown, Md., the two found a web site for an organization called "Pedals For Progress" (PFP) on the internet. With offices in three U.S. cities and the District of Columbia, PFP donates approximately 9,000 bikes annually to people in need. This non-profit organization is unique in that, unlike most domestic bike charities, PFP delivers the donated bicycles it receives to poor communities in foreign countries, including Latin America, Africa, and the South Pacific. "We "rescue" bicycles destined for America's landfills and transport them overseas", explains Keith Oberg, an employee of the PFP Washington office, who works out of his home in Alexandria, Va. Every year, Americans buy 14 million bicycles and discard 5 million old ones, leaving many of them abandoned and unused in basements, sheds, garages, backyards, and high school and college bicycle racks. "I'm glad Pedals for Progress is doing something to recycle so many abandoned bikes," says Mr.Duncan. "They're a model organization that demonstrates the extent of the active involvement of average individual citizens in the United States…and the positive impact their actions have on people in less fortunate countries." The 14 donated bicycles from St. Margaret's will be shipped to Panama via truck at the end of April. "For the working poor overseas, inexpensive bicycles provide both transportation and enjoyment," Mr. Oberg explains. In Panama, PFP bicycles will help farmers transport their produce to market, tradesmen deliver their services, students attend schools, health care workers reach patients, and poor people gain skills and jobs repairing and distributing the donated bikes. "This is great for everyone involved," says Courtney Thompson. "It's great to ship the bikes to a place where they will be put to good use." Mr. Duncan, who taught science last year, has worked at St. Margaret's School since 1998 and is now a staff member, involved full-time in marketing and publications. He rides his own eighteen-speed mountain bike daily, and often can be seen riding home from Food Lion transporting groceries and ice cream. "It's good to know that these bicycles will be used by men and women to transport themselves to work and for kids to ride around for their enjoyment," Mr. Duncan comments. "If you would've told me last year that these 14 bikes would be in Central America - in Panama - this spring, I never would have believed it. But I feel good because I was proactive and had a part in making this happen." For more information about Pedals for Progress or to donate, please visit PFP's
web site www.p4p.org or e-mail Keith Oberg.
Telephone: 804-443-3357(w/h)
Fax: 804-443-6781
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Margaret's Donates Abandoned Bicycles to Charity
St. Margaret's staff member, Hollis Duncan (l.), sits with Keith Olberg, head of Pedals for Progress-Washington D.C. Duncan and Oberg loaded bikes into a semi-truck trailer last week. The trailer, which contained hundreds of donated bicycles, will be shipped to Panama at the end of the month.
