Gearing Up for Hope (GU4H) is an exciting endeavor that was started in 2013 to promote human-powered transportation in underdeveloped communities. The concept started at an ACT Lab (www.act-lab.com) team meeting during a discussion of improving how the company recycles tested products. Since 2008, ACT Lab LLC has been providing product testing services for international product safety compliance, quality control, research, and development.  One of the primary products coming through ACT Lab is bicycles, and many of these tests do not require the destruction of the bike in the process.  As the lab became increasingly inundated with these excess bicycles, someone determined that the bikes could be put to greater use than simply being disassembled for parts.  From that kernel of an idea we started thinking of how we could not only better recycle but how also to better use the products to improve the lives of others, and thus Gearing Up for Hope was created.

GU4H’s goals are to build a cycling community in developing countries that can be self-sustaining. Initially we are getting bicycles into the hands of children, teachers and doctors, giving them the ability to reach further distances and assist in reaching fairly inaccessible locations.  Whether getting the kids or teachers to schools, getting the injured to hospitals, or doctors to the sick, GU4H will assist in building maintenance teams that will be able to service the products and keep them running, while simultaneously creating jobs within the community.