That old bicycle gathering dust in your garage could have a choice spot in the developing world. So could that idle sewing machine you inherited from your grandmother.

David Schweidenback, a former school teacher and Peace Corps volunteer, collects and redistributes both under Pedals for Progress, the nonprofit he established in 1991.

As one of the world’s oldest and largest bike donation programs, Pedals for Progress has distributed nearly 150,000 bikes and 3,600 sewing machines to 38 countries.

"Consumers buy 17 million bikes a year, and millions of old ones wind up discarded or unused,'' Schweidenback says. "A lot of our donated bikes, for the most part, are barely ridden." But, he says, "They can be used in many areas of