HIGH BRIDGE , New Jersey ( CNN ) -- `` The thought that I can reach out and permanently improve someone 's life for the better is addictive , '' says Dave Schweidenback . Dave Schweidenback saw transformative effects of bikes while in the Peace Corps in Ecuador from 1977-80 . Several times a year , the 55-year-old can be found prepping large shipments of used bicycles bound for a developing country . For Schweidenback , gathering and breaking down these bikes is a labor of love -- one that is helping to keep the bikes out of landfills and give them new life . `` Used bicycles can transform the economic and social condition of families , '' says Schweidenback . `` [ They ] give people access to jobs , health care and education that is too distant for walking . '' Since 1991 , Schweidenback 's nonprofit Pedals for Progress has collected and shipped more than 115,000 used bicycles to 32 developing countries worldwide , where they are sold at a low cost to local residents like Don Roberto Garcia . `` A used woman 's mountain bicycle changed my life , '' says Garcia , 54 , a house cleaning supplies salesman in Nicaragua who works six days a week to support his six children and buy medicine for his wife , who suffers from cancer . For 20 years , Garcia walked six to seven hours a day , hauling his merchandise in a wheelbarrow along a 6 mile route . This earned him $ 2- $ 3 a day . `` More than anything , I would always return home so tired from the walk , '' Garcia recalls . Little by little , Garcia saved his money and was able to buy a used bicycle six years ago from a Pedals for Progress partner agency in Jinotepe , Nicaragua . `` Because of a bicycle , I now earn about $ 4 a day , '' says Garcia . `` I sell more and I do my rounds quicker . I tell everyone to go buy a bicycle . '' Watch Garcia explain how a used bicycle has helped him in Nicaragua » . The seeds for Schweidenback 's Pedals for Progress were planted years ago while he was volunteering for the Peace Corps from 1977-80 in Ecuador , near the Amazon Basin . `` Besides the bus that comes through town and one guy that owned a pickup truck , everybody walked everywhere all the time , '' he recalls . `` My landlord was the exception because he owned the only bike in a 500-mile radius . He was the most successful man in the region because he could access a job and get wherever he needed to go . '' Years later , Schweidenback noticed used bicycles at garage sales and in garbage cans throughout his New Jersey community . `` I remembered how [ the need ] in developing countries was so great , that I could n't stop thinking about it , '' he says . Knowing the bikes could be put to better use , Schweidenback asked members of his community to donate 12 used bicycles ; he planned to send them to Ecuador . The community brought him 140 . Within a year , Schweidenback had created Pedals for Progress and shipped roughly 500 bicycles to developing countries . Today , Schweidenback organizes 140 used bike drives each year and , on average , collects 90 bicycles in three hours . Donors are asked to pay a $ 10 fee per bike to help cover shipping costs and reduce the cost of the bicycle when it 's sold overseas . Each bike is sold for about $ 15 . Watch how Pedals for Progress bikes get from donors to people in developing countries » . `` There 's a bike that 's unloved in every garage in this country . Rather than put these old bikes in landfills for no reason , we can use them as economic stimulus to aid our neighbors , '' Schweidenback says . `` This is the transfer of wealth between nations because these have great value overseas . And they give people the ability to hold a job or a child the ability to go to school . '' Watch Schweidenback talk about his inspiration for Pedals for Progress » . Pedals for Progress bicycles have been sent to countries in Central America , Africa , Eastern Europe and the Caribbean . For Schweidenback , knowing he 's making an impact keeps him going . `` You can change someone 's life with your bike . ''
the Peace Corps nonprofit Pedals for Progress gives new life to used bicycles . Garcia saw transformative effects of bikes while in CNN Hero 's . 32 used bikes have been sent to 32 developing countries since 20 years . Low-cost bikes help local residents gain access to jobs , health care and schools .