Summary

King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer on Tuesday awarded Gordon Banks with the Martin Luther King Medal of Distinguished Service, an award that recognizes individuals whose work has answered the question asked by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “What are you doing for others?”

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King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer on Tuesday awarded Gordon Banks with the Martin Luther King Medal of Distinguished Service, an award that recognizes individuals whose work has answered the question asked by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “What are you doing for others?”

Banks overcame adversity to build a successful career but ultimately decided that serving others was his true calling and founded a ministry with his wife, Derozette. Banks devotes his life to helping the community both locally and across the globe through work with his multicultural nonprofit

“It is my honor to present the 2021 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Distinguished Service to Pastor Gordon Banks of Overcomer Covenant Church, whose unwavering commitment to uplifting others has made a tremendous impact on the health of our community,” von Reichbauer said. “From his work feeding over 2,000 local families at his food bank, to building housing for cancer patients in Nicaragua, Pastor Banks answers Dr. King’s question ‘What are you doing for others?’ with consistent transformative action.”

Banks was raised in South Central Los Angeles by a single mother after his father died in an accident mere months before he was born. Despite this adversity, or maybe because of it, he went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Political Science. At the end of his collegiate career, Banks signed a contract to play in the NFL in 1980. He enjoyed eight seasons of professional football, and after the NFL, enjoyed many successful years in the business arena before accepting the call to ministry.

This marks the sixth year that councilmembers have each selected someone from their district whose work embodies the spirit of King’s question.