Fall 2020 Newsletter
Judy Strong lives in Asheville, North Carolina. For the past several years she has been collecting sewing machines and shipping them to us via FedEx. Judy found us on the web. Here are a couple of her notes.
Category Archives: Collectors
Donation from Grandma Betty
By Richard Ravin
Fall 2020 Newsletter
[
We got a sewing machine with a lovely personal message written on the box it came in. Here’s the note we got when we asked the donor about Grandma Betty.]
Dear Pedals For Progress and Sewing Peace:
Thank you for accepting the donation of the Singer sewing machine. The donation is made in the loving memory of my Grandma Betty Ravin, who used the machine to make and mend things for her family. Nothing gave my grandmother more pleasure than doing things for her grandchildren and other relatives, such as sewing, but most of all, cooking and baking, especially on the high holidays (oh, how I miss her gefilte fish!).
I have held on to the sewing machine for 25 years, during which time it got very little use. I am very happy that it will find a new home. Grandma Betty would have been very pleased to know that her sewing machine will be getting a second life that will help enable those in need to help support themselves and their family through use of her donated Singer Stylist 543, and thus perpetuating her credo – love of family.
Thank you for your charitable work that means so much to so many people in need around the world, and congratulations on redistributing more than 5,000 sewing machines and nearly 160,000 bicycles to date!
Richard Ravin
September 23, 2020
All spring 2020 collections are canceled. We’ve posted our fall 2020 collection schedule. To schedule a collection for fall 2020 or spring 2021, contact Lori Smith, lori@p4p.org or (908) 222-6124.
President’s Message, Spring 2020: Coronavirus
By Dave Schweidenback
Spring 2020 Newsletter
I was really excited coming into this spring as we had a great collection schedule. Over the last year and a half we have created many new exciting partnerships overseas: Nigeria, South Africa, Thailand, Togo, Tanzania. We had demand from our current partners in Albania, Kosovo, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. And we had a constant stream of solicitations from potential new partners. It was such a nice plan: a great collection schedule and lots of potential shipments. Then the coronavirus struck.
We run public gatherings with over 100 people attending. We run work crews of five or six men who load containers for shipment. On March 16th I made the decision to shutter all operations until April 20th. On March 29th I extended the shutdown until May 31st. It is just necessary. [On May 14th, we canceled the last of our spring 2020 collections because of the closure of South Brunswick High School, where the collection was scheduled for June 7th.]
Shutting down our spring operations means shutting down half of our annual production. A significant piece of our finances is the actual collecting and shipping of bicycles. That $10 donation with each bicycle or sewing machine adds up. It is what we use not only to pay for the truck, but also to pay our rent and for essential services. Is it possible we could run collections in June? I just don’t know.
Assuming we receive no assistance during this crisis, Pedals for Progress is in a position to maintain paying our employees through September. One would hope that in September we will renew our operations and then restart the cash flow. There is going to be a lot of pent-up demand from our partners overseas that were really expecting shipments this spring. We have 500+ bikes that were scheduled to be loaded for shipment to Thailand on March 28th. We cannot safely put five men in a 40-foot metal box for five hours to load the container. Like our collections, shipments also need to be put on hold.
The newsletter we can alter right up to the day we launch it on the website. But the solicitation that we sent to you needs to go to the printer then get labeled and mailed. It was written a month before you see it, and a lot can happen in a month these days. Since I wrote the solicitation, I have applied for a grant from the Small Business Association, a grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Association and the Paycheck Protection Program through our bank. We have not yet received any of these funds; however I do think there will be help coming from the government and that should help with our overhead for a minimum of two months.
Usually in the spring we are really busy with collections and then we produce our newsletter as time frees up near the end of the collection season in June. This year I hope to have some early summer collections, but at the moment we have lots of free time. So we decided to produce our spring newsletter now during this lockdown so we will have more time to run collections when this situation is behind us.
As always, we send a prepaid remit envelope in case you wish to make a donation. In this time of social distancing and limiting contact, consider making your donation online at our website www.p4p.org. It is a little more expensive than the prepaid envelope but might be safer.
Stay safe. Stay home. Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace will be back as soon as it is safe.
Sincerely,
Letter on the Coronavirus, 17 March 2020, Updated March 27th
Dear Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace supporters,
We live in interesting times! Who could have guessed? With the present circumstances with the coronavirus it becomes incumbent upon all decision-makers to make decisions. While a spring cessation of collection activities will be decisively negative to the empowerment and development we do overseas, for our employees, collection sponsors, and the general donating public, for the immediate future, this seems like a no-brainer. We are in the time of crisis when we need to band together, independently with social distancing, to confront the crisis that immediately threatens us.
I am canceling all bicycle and sewing machines collections scheduled before June 1
April 20, 2020.
Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace are my dream. My sole endeavor has been to find a way through thoughtful recycling to help needy populations worldwide. For three decades we have been able to be successful and I have hopes we will continue in the future. However at this particular time in history, there exists a great existential financial threat to our institution. We need to cancel many of our most essential fundraising activities: bicycle and sewing machine collections.
Donations at bicycle and sewing machine collections represent a significant amount of our total income. While it is uncertain if we can survive such a blow, it is even more evident that we cannot put our staff, collection sponsors, and potential donors in harm’s way. At this time, every person and institution needs to do their part to help stop the spread of the virus.
While I am presently completely assured of the correctness of this decision, I, like most, do not have clarity into the length of the necessary cessation of activity. This is such a fluid moment that it’s very hard to tell what is true; there is just a lack of reliable information.
I gave the collection sponsors authority to reschedule or cancel their spring collection if it was in their best interests. I want to humbly thank the collection sponsors for their insistence to try to move on with the collections and get by this current virus problem. However as President, the buck stops here! At the end of the day I am responsible for everything that is done under the name of Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace. I accept this responsibility, always have, and take that responsibility with great humility.
A few years ago I listened to Channel 13 and one of the sponsors talked about a more burdened society. A burdened society is a society that has trouble providing for basic human needs, not only material goods but also social and political culture. It is incumbent on us in the international community to help burdened societies: to look out for the most vulnerable and promote the well being of all.
Canceling spring collections could have a devastating effect to our finances and that of our partner programs around the world. It does not however change the fact that I need to announce the cancellation of all bicycle and sewing machines collection before June 1 April 20, 2020. I am hopeful that as the springtime warmth returns, the virus will look less threatening and those early spring collections which are so critical to our overall success can be rescheduled to the fall or to June and July. I, like all of you, am hoping for a quick and immediate end to this crisis. Meanwhile we all need to act in the interest of our greater society for calm and safety.
I plead with you to continue supporting Pedals for Progress. We are a small institution doing vital work but this sort of financial threat could potentially be quite devastating. We are doing the best we can given the situation we are put in. I promise that we will always do the best we can do to fulfill our mission as soon as we can get out there doing public collections once again.
David Schweidenback
President, Pedals for Progress / Sewing Peace
Lesson Learned: kids are not buying as many bikes as they used to
By David Schweidenback
February 2020
In February 2021 I will have spent 30 years collecting bicycles. A lot has changed over the years. Initially we received mainly 10-speed bicycles with a smattering of old English 3-speeds. The most common brands were Schwinn and Huffy. Today we receive mainly mountain bikes and the most common brand name by far is Trek! This is actually quite an improvement because mountain bikes are much more useful in the areas we ship to.
When I started we received one 20-inch-tire bicycle for every two adult bikes we collected. This was important for several reasons. A 20-inch BMX or banana-seat bicycle is a great bicycle overseas. It’s the correct size for many adults in the developing world. And these bikes are basically indestructible.
The 20-inch bicycles were also very important in shipping. When we load a container, we put a row of adult bikes side-to-side in the container, plywood on top of them, and then a second tier of adult bikes. We then put cardboard on top of the second tier of adult bikes and have enough room to stand up a row of 20-inch bikes as a third tier. This arrangement uses all the space in the container, so we can fit more bikes.
During the last year or two we started just getting fewer and fewer 20-inch bicycles. When I first started we had no competition for bicycles but now there is significant competition from other groups that are also collecting bicycles for their own domestic purposes. Initially I just assumed someone else was getting those bikes before Pedals for Progress could. The number of 20-inch bikes just continued declining and I realized that competition could not explain the lack of collectible 20-inch bikes. It really has become a problem in the loading process: instead of rolling 20-inch bikes on top of the second tier we now need to lay adult bikes flat on top, which is very strenuous for the guys doing the loading: they’re in a cramped space, lifting 30-pound bikes, and bending forward to stack them.
I was speaking with a bike shop owner and I mentioned this problem of not having enough 20-inch bikes to fill the smaller places in our containers. He was not surprised at all and told me that although he had 20-inch bikes in his shop he almost never sold any. That’s when the light bulb lit up in my mind.
It is not competition taking the bikes but just the sheer lack of availability. Very few 10-year-old kids ask their parents for a bicycle for their birthday. New iPhones and virtual-reality goggles are preferred. There are still many kids of that age who have a bicycle, but every 10-year-old used to have a bike. Now it seems having a bike at that age is the exception, not the norm. Who knew? The lack of 20-inch bicycles is not some fault in our collection system. It is not a serious problem that threatens our Corporation but I was glad to learn the lesson: societies change.
Report from Vermont, Fall 2019
Fall 2019 Newsletter
On 21 September 2019 the Vermont Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (GMRPCV) held their annual collection. Vermont Knights of Columbus groups also held a September collection. The combined shipment from Vermont contained 139 bikes and 95 sewing machines, including the 500th sewing machine from the GMRPCVs. Here are the reports.
Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
By Joanne Heidkamp
We packed a total of 245 items into 4 containers: 139 bikes and 95 sewing machines. We also shipped 25 new bike seats donated by Terry bicycles.
A highlight of the day was receiving our 500th sewing machine, a lovely Bernina donated by Lucy Beck, of Shelburne, Vermont.
We collected $1,795 in cash and checks. You’ll be receiving a separate check for $410 for Mary O’Brien’s 41 lovingly tended sewing machines. Several people did not donate items, but have emailed me asking about sending shipping money directly to P4P — including a woman who works for USAID in Albania! And I hope to get $150–$200 for the 7 sewing machine cabinets that I have listed on Craigslist. Individuals in the group absorbed several hundred dollars in costs, including pizza and snacks, postage for the reminder postcards, plywood, … We can confidently say P4P will have $10 per item in hand by Thanksgiving.
Quality of the bikes and sewing machines was great overall, with a few really nice, high value items.
Thanks to everyone for their help. Thank God it’s only once a year!
Knights of Columbus, District #1, Fairfax, Vermont
By Ed Nuttall
On 7 September 2019 members of Knights of Columbus Council 10830 held a bicycle collection at Langelier’s Car Wash. Fairfax Council 10830 and Milton Council 10417 (Police and Fire Department contribution) collected fifty bikes. The bikes were stored in Pete Fitzgerald’s barn. We also collected 5 sewing machines.
The following Knights participated: Bob Thompson, Doug Lantagne, Peter Fitzgerald, Keith Billado, Skyler Billado, Greg Hartmann, and Ed Nuttall.
On 20 September, we loaded 53 bikes onto a trailer and delivered them to Burlington, where, along with the bikes and sewing machines collected by the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, they were loaded onto a FedEx truck for delivery to the P4P/SP trailers in Glen Gardner, New Jersey.
Robert Musil’s Sewing Machine: from New York to Togo
By Dave Schweidenback
Fall 2019 Newsletter
Robert Musil, 23 years old, left Krizanow, Moravia (now the Czech Republic), in October 1910. His sister Fanny Vogel had previously emigrated to the U.S. and she and her German husband sponsored Robert’s trip. He traveled north to Bremen in Germany and embarked for the U.S.
He arrived at Ellis Island November 17, 1910, looking for a new life and greater opportunity. Like most immigrants he was not looking for a handout but rather to become a creative part of his new country. He was ready to work. Robert was a tailor, made a living his whole life sewing. He is an American success story of how immigrants enrich America. In 1912, Robert married another Czech, Bozina Ourednik. They had two daughters, born in 1914 and 1917.
Robert was an entrepreneur who supported his family through hard work and great skill. He bought himself a new 1912 Singer manual sewing machine and went to work. In New Rochelle, New York, he worked out of the front parlor of his home where he had a large triple mirror so his clients could see themselves in the custom-made dresses and suits he made. He basically had only a half-dozen wealthy customers, for whom he made evening gowns, suits, and coats.
Robert passed away in 1960. His sewing machine stood idle, finally ending up in his granddaughter’s garage, a family heirloom but what to do with it? The 1912 Singer was waiting for a new life somewhere, ready to go back to work. All these years later his granddaughter, Betsy Richards, still had the sewing machine packed away in her garage. After learning of the mission of Sewing Peace, Betsy decided the best thing to do with it was to donate it so someone else could make a living with that high-quality machine made in the U.S.
In comes Anne Fitzgerald, sewing machine collector extraordinaire. Betsey found Anne because the P4P/SP collection was announced in the local newspaper. On October 5th, 2019, Anne brought the sewing machine to the P4P/SP collection at the Asbury United Methodist Church in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. The collection was sponsored by the Croton Lay Interfaith Council.
Gary, our V.P. and collection coordinator, went to that collection and brought that sewing machine back to the warehouse. Then Dennis our tinkerer did some minor maintenance on the machine. It is now working beautifully!
Robert Musil’s sewing machine shipped to DRVR, our partner in Togo, West Africa, on October 26, 2019. Previously, DRVR had received only one shipment of sewing machines. But with the generous support of the Clif Bar Family Foundation, DRVR is now a bicycle program as well as a sewing program. We hope to be able to trail along to the final destination of Robert’s machine and bring you the conclusion of the story in our 2020 spring newsletter. [Here is that story.]
Collecting Sewing Machines for Sewing Peace, 2019
Spring 2019 Newsletter
[Editor’s note: this is a report from one of our very best sewing machine collectors, who wishes to remain anonymous. The dozens of machines we get every year from this volunteer arrive clean and in perfect working condition.]
I am the recycling coordinator for a solid waste management district. I work with five transfer stations, three of which collect used sewing machines for me.
The collection of sewing machines here is a group effort. The employees at the transfer stations keep an eye out for sewing machines and set them aside for me to pick up. Plus, of course, we have generous donors who not only provide the machines but also throw in thread, extra needles, bobbins, pins, etc. The older machines are my favorites; I’ve been working on one that is 81 years old and came with its original manual. It’s a trooper.
The process of collecting and shipping the machines has evolved over the years. In addition to cleaning, oiling, and testing the machines, I now make drawstring bags to hold sewing notions, sew dust covers, cut out and embroider felt pin-holders, and put together sewing kits for each machine. And there’s my long-suffering husband, who has accepted the annexation of an entire room in our house for the Sewing Peace project.
My hobby has become a labor of love for people I will never meet but feel very connected to through a shared appreciation for sewing machines. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to Sewing Peace’s wonderful mission.
Postscript to the 2018 GMRPCVs FedEx Shipment
On October 16, 2018, the FedEx truck from the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers got to the P4P trailers in Glen Gardner, New Jersey.
We had our regular driver and he is highly skilled. We were perfectly happy with his first try to park the truck next to our loading dock, but he was not. He wanted to be closer to the dock to make the unloading easier.
When he tried to get closer, though, he got stuck in a hidden low muddy spot in front of the trailers—wheels spinning, mud flying, truck not moving. I was sure that getting the stuck tractor-trailer out would be a huge problem.
In the meantime, we unloaded the 4 FedEx canisters: 193 bikes and 75 sewing machines.
The driver called a local towing company and the biggest tow truck I have ever seen showed up. The two drivers chatted amiably for a few minutes. Then the tow-truck driver hooked up a cable to the FedEx truck, flipped a lever on the tow track, and winched the FedEx truck to the asphalt in about 15 seconds. The tow truck never moved. What problem?
