David Schweidenback's (Ecuador 77-80) Pedals for Progress first caught CNN's attention in July of this year when he was featured as a CNN Hero (which we blogged about here). Now he's back on for more as CNN.com interviews him about how his work is going and how being featured helped his cause.
Pedals for Progress takes bikes that would otherwise be discarded and ships them to developing countries where transportation on a bike often makes a huge difference in people's lives. Because many people in developing nations have to walk everywhere, their access to services, resources, and jobs is significantly hindered. Simply owning a bike can provide people with the ability to get the things they need and work more effe ctively. Since 1991, P4P has rescued over 115,000 bikes shipped them to impoverished people in 32 countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
In the interview Schweidenback says that support from CNN viewers has helped his cause and that help is needed now more than ever as raising diesel prices cause shipping costs increase. Still, Schweidenback emphasized that the work he does, inspired by his Peace Corps service, is going strong and will continue as long as there are people whose lives can be improved by owning a bike.
To watch Schweidenback's interview, visit http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/09/23/herores.special.6.cnn. His interview begins at minute marker 19:50 and continues until 25:52.
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