Edmonton Riverview Rotary Club

06/02/2026

RC Edmonton Riverview's third annual "Cinnamon Bun Fun Run" is coming up August 8, 2026. Come join us on a beautiful morning walk/run in Edmonton's scenic river valley. This is a family friendly 1km, 5km, or 10km walk/run. Suitable for all ages and abilities. All participants get a complimentary Sour Dough Cinnamon Bun from Freson Bros and a participation medal. See you there.
Register at the "Raceroster" website:
https://raceroster.com/events/2026/112613/cinnamon-bun-fun-run-2026

05/14/2026

U of A's "Cities Institute" Murtaza Haider

May 12, 2026

Murtaza Haider is the Executive Chair of the U of A's new "Cities Institute" in the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta. His work helps bridge the gap between data-driven insights and real-world city-building strategies, shaping the future of urban development in Canada and globally. However, his current focus is squarely on Edmonton, specifically Edmonton's downtown. Murtaza's offices are located downtown and he sees daily the challenges of homelessness, vacant buildings, unsafe transit, construction, etc. Edmonton's challenges are great, but with Murtaza and his colleagues at the new institute working on solutions, hopefully the most difficult years are now behind us. Thank you Murtaza for taking the time to speak with Riverview Rotarians.

04/20/2026

April 7, 2026.
Club members have known that Paul (Riverview Rotarian) and Cynthia Dusseault have been travelling to Ecuador for the past 5 years managing the cataract/optometry project (Mision Claridad). Prior to that, Paul & Cynthia assisted Operation Esperanza for 6 years. But most club members did not know that Paul & Cynthia have quietly been managing other projects. Today Paul and Cynthia talked about their most recent 3 projects.

The first involves upgrades to the public hospital in Santa Isabel, about 1 hour south of Cuenca. With financial support from 3 Rotary Clubs (RC Tomebamba, RC Calgary Stampeded Park and RC Riverview) renovations were done to the hospital's auditorium and nursing station. As well, a new electrocautery unit was purchased for the operating room. These changes at the hospital improve the delivery of services to the large rural population in this area of southern Ecuador.

The second project improves the medical services provided by a mobile surgical unit by providing a handheld, mobile ultrasound device. This mobile surgical unit (managed by the CinterAndes foundation) has been operational for 30 years.

The last project is a new project just taking shape. It is an offshoot from the previous cataract/optometry project and we're calling it the Claridad Vision Project. This is a simplified optometry project that utilizing an autorefractor to screen children for vision impairment. Through an agreement with a local Cuenca optical shop, children are able to get glasses at a dramatically reduced rate. Riverview Rotary will assist by providing funds to further reduce the cost.

In addition to the coordination and funding that Paul and Cynthia manage from Canada, this would not be possible without their long time Rotary partner The Club Rotario Tomebamba of Cuenca, as well as lead volunteer Rick Smith (Claridad Vision Project).

Photos: 1) Electrocautery unit being presented by Tomebamba Rotarians to Santa Isabel hospital staff in the newly renovated auditorium. 2) Handheld portable ultrasound (linked by bluetooth to a mbile phone) in use by CinterAndes staff. 3) CinterAndes mobile surgical unit, on location in Manglaralto, Ecuador. 4) Claridad Vision Project - Volunteer using the Portable Autorefractor to do vision screening.

03/22/2026

What is Rotary? Why do people join? Interested to learn more? This is your opportunity to meet like minded people who what to help the community and the world.
https://portal.clubrunner.ca/50012/Events/get-to-know-rotary

03/19/2026

Mark you calendars, and get you tickets soon, as Riverview is hosting our second annual Trivia night on April 21. Scan the QR code in the poster below, or visit April 22 on our club calendar https://portal.clubrunner.ca/454/Event/riverview-rotary-trivia-night-2026 to get more details and to get your tickets.

We're excited to welcome you to our second "Trivia Night."  Initially we had this booked for April 22 but due to the Oilers playoff schedule, it is now on April 21st. 

03/13/2026

Cynthia and I were with the team doing this work recently in Ecuador. We're glad that we were able to organize this work to benefit hundreds of people.

Mison Claridad, Riverview's vision project in Ecuador, recently completed the delivery and fitting of over 330 pairs of glasses to those most in need in Ecuador. Riverview Rotarians Norm Johnson, Wayne Kauffman and Paul Dusseault accompanied by spouses, volunteers (including a second optician: Denise Chabot), translators and Rotarians from our partner club, the Club Rotario Tomebamba, spent 5 days in late February putting smiles on the faces of so many people who could suddenly see clearly! Many thanks to all those who made this possible. Special thanks to the Optometrists Clinic for donating frames, cutting lenses and preparing all the glasses.

Here is a photo of our team, on our last day of work, at a remote school outside of Cuenca, Ecuador.

03/10/2026

Mison Claridad, Riverview's vision project in Ecuador, recently completed the delivery and fitting of over 330 pairs of glasses to those most in need in Ecuador. Riverview Rotarians Norm Johnson, Wayne Kauffman and Paul Dusseault accompanied by spouses, volunteers (including a second optician: Denise Chabot), translators and Rotarians from our partner club, the Club Rotario Tomebamba, spent 5 days in late February putting smiles on the faces of so many people who could suddenly see clearly! Many thanks to all those who made this possible. Special thanks to the Optometrists Clinic for donating frames, cutting lenses and preparing all the glasses.

Here is a photo of our team, on our last day of work, at a remote school outside of Cuenca, Ecuador.

08/13/2025

Great event last Saturday!

Riverview Rotary's second annual "Cinnamon Bun Fun Run", raising funds for polio eradication, had over 125 participants. The kids 1 km run started at 9:30, followed by the adult 5 km and 10 km events. The kids were so excited, their parents could barely keep up! It was a great start that energized the adults. Fortunately the threatening early morning rain clouds dispersed and we had great weather for the event.

Everyone enjoyed their Freson Bros sourdough cinnamon bun, their race medal and we raised several thousand dollars for polio eradication.

Thanks to all who participated and volunteered to make this such a successful event.

08/05/2025

There's still time to register for our fun run, this Saturday August 9th. Hope to see you there!

Here's the link to registrations:
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fraceroster.com%2Fevents%2F2025%2F95672%2Fcinnamon-bun-fun-run-2025&data=05%7C02%7C%7C282c0f8e486b4c0a509608ddca1f058d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638888956801842637%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=RA0N8%2BJY87Ej0Gw6ifvZXDXfSAbVs5BNk3IPOkV9NiI%3D&reserved=0

07/25/2025

Had a great meeting on July 22. Took the opportunity to get a photo of members, guests and our guest speaker. Our small but mighty club is making the world a better place. Contact us if you'd like to join Rotary.