After years of planning and fundraising, Riverview Elementary School in Verdun inaugurated a new turf field. The $160,000 price tag was paid by Goal Initiatives Foundation and The Patrice Bernier Foundation. Designed for soccer and football, students say it’s good for all kinds of activities. Graeson Francis is a Grade 6 student who likes to run laps on the perimeter. “The best part about this field is that the blue part? I see it as running like a race track,” he said. “I play tag a lot with my friends, and sometimes we try to play hide and seek, but it’s kind of hard because there’s nowhere to hide!” said Nicole Valquilevine. Verdun borough councillor Sterling Downey was a student at Riverview and has some painful memories. “If I lift up my pants right here and you look at my knees, there’s a lot of scars from scraped knees playing soccer in this schoolyard because it was all asphalt,” he said. Years later, a turf field was built, and when it became unsafe in July 2024, it was removed. “The cement, the turf itself, everything was just falling apart and it was actually going to be dangerous,” said GOAL Initiatives founder Paul Desbaillets. ”It was dangerous for kids, so it had to be done, so that it was safe, and safe doesn’t just mean protected by a fence. It means I’m not going to trip and break my ankle.” GOAL Initiatives Foundation is powered by their big community summertime soccer events held at Percival Molson Stadium. In addition, the Patrice Bernier Foundation kicked in with the save for Riverview. “The plan was to help our kids, and it comes in different ways,” said retired CF Montreal star Patrice Bernier. ”It could be scholarships, it could be activities, and this is one part of it where with the collaboration of good initiatives, we’re able, in three years, to have three different fields at three different schools.” Downey says the city doesn’t have an extra $160,000 for these types of projects. “The borough can’t fund projects like this so it requires private partnerships,” he said. Riverview Elementary School Principal Tania d’Alessandro says the project is an investment in students and their learning. “It helps them by giving them back focus,” she said. ”Once they go back, they’ve released all that energy they’ve worked up. Also sportsmanship and working together as a team.” A Commissioner with the Lester B. Pearson School Board, Linda Dalterio, adds, “We’re so excited. This will allow for kids to play freely in inner city schools.”
