• Story Highlights
• CNN Hero's nonprofit Pedals for Progress gives new life to used bicycles
  
• Dave Schweidenback saw transformative effects of bikes while in the Peace Corps
  
• More than 115,000 used bikes have been sent to 32 developing countries since '91
  
• Low-cost bikes help local residents gain access to jobs, health care and schools
  
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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.

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."