Riverside East Rotary is dedicated to making positive, lasting change in both our local community and in communities abroad. We pride ourselves on being a "fun" club that gets things done. We meet every Wednesday morning at the Bank of America Diversity Center in Downtown Riverside at 3933 Mission Inn Avenue. Learn More »
Riverside East Rotary was founded in 1987 as the 23,000th Rotary Club. Today there are more than 34,000 Clubs throughout the world. Rotary International works to fight disease, provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, and promote peace and education throughout the world. Learn More »
Guest Speaker: We welcomed Linda Hicks from the non-profit Aquamotion Ability Foundation, who shared inspiring insight into their mission and impact.
New Members: We’re thrilled to welcome three new members into our Rotary family!
* Bill Millward
* Michael VanHulle
* Jerry VanHulle
Paul Harris Fellow: Huge congratulations to Francis Reyes on being recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow +4 for her support of the Rotary Foundation. Francis exemplifies Service Above Self!
Thank you to everyone who joined us. Here’s to another great week of service!
Riverside East Rotary is proud to share that Toilets 4 Life Phase II has launched in Bugiri Municipality, Uganda. Five modern sanitation facilities are now serving schools, markets, and public spaces across the municipality, backed by two purpose-bought trucks and a wastewater treatment technology new to the district.
Phase II is funded through Global Grant #2569338, a $206,248 partnership between the Rotary Club of Bugiri Municipality (District 9213) and Riverside East Rotary District 5330, and Rotary International.
A completed Toilets 4 Life Phase II sanitation block in Bugiri Municipality.
Why Bugiri
Bugiri Municipality is home to roughly 45,650 people. Before this work began, 76% of them had no access to safe water, and the entire municipality was served by three public pit latrines, two of which no longer worked. There is no municipal sewage system. The consequences show up as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery, and they fall hardest on women, girls, and children under five.
Phase I of Toilets 4 Life began addressing this in 2023 and Phase II builds on it.
What Phase II built
Five sanitation facilities, at:
Bugubo Primary School
Nabukalu Market
ITT Vocational Training Centre
Bugiri Bus Park
Kireka-Ndifakulya community
Each facility includes six stances (two for women, two for men, one for persons with disabilities, and one urinal), along with two shower units, tap-water connections, and handwashing stations.
Painted signage credits Rotary, RC Bugiri Municipality and Riverside East Rotary.
Two trucks, both already in weekly service:
A 10,000-litre cesspool emptier (Reg. UA 375BP), which empties school and public toilets and carries the waste for proper disposal.
An ISUZU FORWARD garbage collection truck (Reg. UA 018DP), now running weekly refuse collection across Bugiri Municipal Council, with communities loading the garbage themselves as their contribution to the project.
Two Aquonic wastewater treatment tanks, purchased in Bangkok, Thailand and shipped to Uganda. Rather than simply storing waste until a truck can collect it, these tanks treat wastewater on site, a technology not previously available in the municipality.
More than construction
Training. Twenty-five WASH school committee members, facility cleaners, and garbage and cesspool staff completed a two-day hygiene, sanitation and wastewater management course in December 2025. A further 20 participants were trained specifically on Aquonic tank operation and maintenance by Attawut Kumkronng of SCGC Thailand, working alongside ITT Vocational Training Centre.
The curriculum also included WASH committee roles and responsibilities, the relationship between water, sanitation and waterborne infection, menstrual hygiene management, solid waste collection and disposal, and Uganda’s sanitation regulatory framework.
Community ownership. Community adoption meetings were held on 10 January 2026, and School WASH Committees have been established and trained at every site. Hygiene education programs are running across all beneficiary schools.
Getting the word out. A radio talk show on Eastern Voice Radio in Bugiri brought the project to the wider community, with the Mayor’s representative Mr. Mapesa Ayub taking part alongside visiting Rotarians.
Supporting Organizations
Rotary Club of Bugiri Municipality hosts the grant, under President Nabba Charles and Charter President Proscovia Biryeri. Jaffer Bajja Shaban serves as project administrator and has driven implementation and reporting throughout, as he did in Phase I.
ITT-Africa School of Health Science, Technology and Innovation is the cooperating organization, leading community mobilization, training delivery, and reporting.
Riverside East Rotary is the international sponsor. Club member Rtn. Zubair Bakubye travelled to Uganda, addressed the community adoption meetings, took part in the radio talk show, and helped facilitate the Aquonic tank training.
Rotary Club of Murrieta sent Rtn. Nancy Young, Rtn. Doreen Tate, and Rtn. Mickie Evans, who travelled to Bugiri and facilitated the January community meetings and the radio broadcast.
Rotary Club of Jinja has mentored the Rotary Club of Bugiri Municipality since its founding, with Rtn. Petronilla serving as mentor. That sustained support made a club capable of hosting a grant of this size.
From Phase I to Phase II
Phase I (Global Grant #1985875) brought $61,500 to Bugiri and delivered five basic septic toilet blocks and one 7,500-litre cesspool truck. It was hosted by the Rotary Club of Iganga and completed in 2023.
Phase II is more than three times the size, at $206,248, with larger and more inclusive facilities, a second truck for solid waste, and on-site wastewater treatment. The host club changed to Bugiri Municipality’s own Rotary club, a sign of how much local capacity has grown in three years.
Reduced congestion and unsafe toilet use in schools
Increased school attendance, particularly among girls
Greater community awareness of hygiene practices
Local ownership strengthened through active WASH Committees
The project’s goal is to reduce waterborne disease in the municipality by at least 50%.
What’s next
A cadre visit is planned, and District 5330 is exploring a Vocational Training Team (VTT) to Bugiri, an opportunity to deepen the technical partnership well beyond the life of the grant.
Two things learned during Phase II are shaping what comes after. Menstrual hygiene bins were not in the original budget but proved essential, and were provided anyway. And Bugiri’s sludge treatment capacity has become the limiting factor: the municipality currently relies on a lagoon originally built to serve Bugiri Hospital, which is not sized for municipal demand and is approaching capacity. The Municipal Council has requested a dedicated lagoon, and without one, the long-term sustainability of the sanitation system is at risk.
Thank you
The Rotary Club of Bugiri Municipality has expressed its gratitude to The Rotary Foundation, and to the clubs and districts whose funding and technical support made Phase II possible. Riverside East Rotary is grateful in turn to everyone who has supported Toilets 4 Life across both phases.
Launch day
Arriving at the launch site.Officials inspect a new facility on launch day.Community members turned out in numbers for the launch.Preparing for the ribbon cutting.The new garbage collection truck, dressed for its handover.Rotarians and municipal officials at the handover.Both trucks, garbage collection and cesspool emptier, on display.Officials with the two new vehicles.Remarks to the gathering.Guests seated for the formal programme.Attendees gather for a group photograph.A wider view of the same group.The crowd closes in around the trucks.
The completed facilities
A finished six stance block.The facility in use.Going in.Inspecting a finished block.
Video from the launch
Cutting the ribbon at a new facility.Cutting the ribbon on the cesspool emptier.Handover speech at the trucks.Remarks at the wastewater tank.Remarks at the garbage truck.The project signboard on the truck.Officials arriving at the venue.Walking to the ceremony.
Thank you to Leslie Pirritano and Devanie Donadio from NORA, the Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center, for speaking at our Rotary meeting this week. They explained NORA’s mission: providing culturally responsive, inclusive advocacy, support, and services to survivors and families affected by sexual violence, domestic violence, and child abuse, along with community education focused on awareness and prevention.
Sexual and domestic violence affect people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds, and many survivors face real barriers to safety, services, and healing. We’re grateful to the work that NORA does in our community.
Learn more at https://callnora.org/ and for information about their annual dinner and auction gala go here: https://givebutter.com/noras-45th-annual-dinner-auction-gala-a-night-at-the-louvre-ji22zz
On August 19th President Nick Lopez visited long-time member Bob and Betty Traister and bestowed a small token of appreciation on behalf of Riverside East Rotary.In addition to his many years of service at the club level, Bob is a Past District Governor of District 5330 and organizer of our district-wide international travel tours.Thank you for your service!
We were honored to host Todd S. Jenkins, founder of LA Kings Sled Hockey, as our guest speaker. Todd shared the story of how a search for an adaptive sport for his son Nick — born with Spina Bifida — led him and his wife Christie to launch Southern California’s first sled hockey program back in 2013. What started as a small grassroots effort has since become the official Los Angeles Kings Sled Hockey program, giving disabled kids and adults across the region the chance to play competitive, adaptive ice hockey.
Todd talked about the team’s growth, the volunteers and donors who keep it running, and the powerful impact the sport has had on athletes’ confidence, community, and quality of life — including their first championship win.
Thank you, Todd, for sharing your story and the incredible work you’re doing! To learn more or support the team, visit lakingssledhockey.com.
We also had the chance to welcome back Albert Carillo. Albert was previously a member of Riverside East Rotary and recently re-joined. We’re excited to have him aboard!
Today we were lucky to be joined by Stephanie Standerfer, Chair of the Board of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce. Outside of her involvement with the Chamber she serves as Vice President and Director of Environmental Services for the engineering firm Albert A Webb Associates. She shared an update on the priorities for the Chamber this upcoming year.
We also had the opportunity to honor Riverside East Rotarians Dennis Sullivan, Christopher Cox and Richard Lemire for their contributions to Polio. As members of the Polio Plus Society, they’ve made a commitment to go above and beyond in the fight against Polio.
Thank you to today’s guest speaker, Lois Beckman of the American Red Cross Riverside County Chapter!
Lois shared how the Red Cross supports our community through disaster response and recovery, emergency preparedness education, and lifesaving blood collection. She also emphasized the urgent need for blood donations right now. If you’re eligible, please consider scheduling an appointment to donate.
We also learned of two upcoming service projects, so mark your calendars:
August 3rd 10am-2pm with The Salvation Army Riverside Corps
September 26 | 8am-2pm with Red Cross
We’re grateful for opportunities to work with the organizations making a difference in Riverside County!
Our club welcomed Jennifer Contreras, Community Engagement Specialist at Ontario International Airport, this past Wednesday. She gave us an update on the airport’s continued growth, including its 10th anniversary of local control this November, several new nonstop routes launching this year (Honolulu and Chicago O’Hare among them), and record passenger numbers expected this summer. Thanks, Jennifer, for the great update on our hometown airport!
Today Riverside East Rotary was lucky to be joined by local writer, educator, and community booster Larry Burns, who shared his frontline experience navigating generative AI in the classroom at Riverside City College. Rather than banning AI or blindly embracing it, he’s helped students to better understand it and to start thinking critically about it as a tool.
We were also happy to welcome back our new Club President, Nick Lopez, from his travels abroad!
Today at Riverside East Rotary, we were honored to hear from Ken MacKillop, an Outreach Worker with the City of Riverside’s Public Safety and Engagement Team (PSET) — the people on the front lines of our community’s response to homelessness.
Ken gave us an up-close look at his journey to the role and to of the human side of this work: meeting people where they are, connecting them to resources, and building the trust that’s often the first step toward a path off the streets. It’s not easy, but it’s some of the most important work happening in our city right now.
