Rudder receives award from Rotary Club of Central Port of Spain

Cul­tur­al icon David Rud­der has re­ceived the Paul Har­ris Fel­low award from the Ro­tary Club of Cen­tral Port of Spain.

The award was pre­sent­ed on Thurs­day dur­ing the Club’s month­ly meet­ing at the Cas­ca­dia Ho­tel. The Paul Har­ris Fel­low is among the high­est ho­n­ours con­ferred by Ro­tary In­ter­na­tion­al and recog­nis­es in­di­vid­u­als whose lives re­flect the prin­ci­ple of Ser­vice Above Self.

The Club’s Board ap­proved the award in con­nec­tion with its “Poor Man’s Din­ner” held in Oc­to­ber 2025. The event served as a fundrais­ing ini­tia­tive in sup­port of Ro­tary In­ter­na­tion­al’s End Po­lio Now cam­paign un­der the World’s Great­est Meal ini­tia­tive.

Rud­der, a sur­vivor of po­lio, was recog­nised for his con­tri­bu­tion to cul­ture and pub­lic life. Over sev­er­al decades, he has been a ca­lyp­son­ian and cul­tur­al am­bas­sador for Trinidad and To­ba­go, us­ing mu­sic to ad­dress so­cial is­sues and na­tion­al iden­ti­ty.

By ho­n­our­ing Rud­der, the Club high­light­ed the im­pact of po­lio and the on­go­ing cam­paign to erad­i­cate the dis­ease. Ro­tary In­ter­na­tion­al and its part­ners con­tin­ue glob­al vac­ci­na­tion and ad­vo­ca­cy ef­forts aimed at end­ing po­lio.

Dur­ing the Poor Man’s Din­ner pro­gramme, Rud­der sent writ­ten greet­ings to pa­trons. In his mes­sage, he en­cour­aged con­tin­ued sup­port for the erad­i­ca­tion cam­paign and not­ed the im­pact of col­lec­tive ac­tion.

The Ro­tary Club of Cen­tral Port of Spain stat­ed that the award re­flects the link be­tween cul­ture and ser­vice. Rud­der ex­pressed grat­i­tude on re­ceiv­ing the ho­n­our.

The Club said it re­mains com­mit­ted to ini­tia­tives that sup­port com­mu­ni­ties lo­cal­ly and in­ter­na­tion­al­ly, in­clud­ing its on­go­ing work with the End Po­lio Now cam­paign.