ROCKVILLE, MD–On Saturday, December 5th, Bikes for the World, a DC area-based non-profit, shipped its 40,000th bike for donation to programs that help people who need affordable transportation overseas.  The shipment containing this milestone bike is bound for the Panamanian Association of Goodwill Industries, a long-time Bikes for the World charity partner.

Keith Oberg, Director of Bikes for the World, loads the 40,000th bike to be shipped overseas

The bikes donated by Bikes for the World are sold by the local partner at low prices. These bikes not only provide Panamanian workers, tradesmen, and students with affordable transport but enable the receiving organization to train and employ people with disabilities, building job skills and providing employment to a population often marginalized in the job market.

Bikes for the World (BfW) is a sponsored project of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (tax ID #237305477) whose mission is to collect valuable but unwanted bicycles and related material--parts, tools, and accessories--in the United States and deliver it at low cost to community development programs assisting the poor in developing countries.   The bikes donated to our partner organizations provide much-needed and affordable transportation to laborers, micro businesspeople, farmers, health workers, and students.  Recipients benefit in proportion to THEIR efforts.  Our non-profit partner organizations sell bikes at a below-market price or distribute them to targeted beneficiaries in exchange for volunteer services (e.g., health workers in Namibia) or as award (e.g., for scholarship students living miles away from school, as in the Gambia or Senegal).  

As much as possible, Bikes for the World uses the donated bicycles to help set-up self-sustaining bicycle repair operations which can make enough money to pay the direct costs for subsequent container shipments of donated bicycles.

Bikes for the World also operates the Rockville Youth Bicycle Project in suburban Maryland, offering local youth opportunities to learn about bicycles, fulfill high school community service requirements, earn a reconditioned bicycle, and bike safely and enjoyably.

(Above Right: Picture from Nyariga, Ghana showing a recipient of a Bikes for the World bicycle. Courtesy of the Shape Lives Foundation)

Also see this YouTube video by America.gov describing the mission of Bikes for the World:

And see the MSNBC video about how Bikes for the World contributes bikes supporting sustainable development for a small community near Johannesburg, South Africa.