Wheels To Africa

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Seven years ago, Winston Duncan visited Africa with his mother and noticed the long hike kids had walking to school. On his return they started Wheels to Africa, collecting abandoned bikes in suburban DC to help kids in Sudan.

The first year 200 bikes were donated and thousands since then, with large numbers of volunteer help who are critical to the project to defray costs of packing, shipping, inland transportation and import duties.
Dixie Duncan, Winston's mom concedes that promises have been broken, but as a back-up, the bikes have gone to others in need - locally and in Haiti.

Currently, the Duncans are working to qualify for a Defense Department program that will ship bikes free of charge. If that doesn't work, they're hoping to raise $15,000 to meet delivery costs. But, if the grant does come through, that money will start a primary school in Sudan.

Read this story in The Washington Post, showing what volunteerism can accomplish.