Will County Gazette

An Illinois state representative known for volunteer work with the Salvation Army and We Care, marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a call to be guided by King's vision for racial equality.

Illinois State Rep. David Welter (R-Morris) celebrated the life and legacy of the slain civil-rights leader with a social media post commemorating King. 

"Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," Welter posted to Facebook Jan. 17."Let us all be inspired by his great leadership, his work for equality, and his vision for a better world for all."

King was born on Jan. 15, 1929, and assassinated on April 4, 1968.

At 35, King was the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1964. His biography on the Nobel Prize website follows King's role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, from his leadership of the 382-day bus boycott to his assassination in 1964. The biography states that from 1957 to 1968, King traveled more than six million miles and made more than 2,500 speeches, "appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action,"; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles.”

"When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement,” the biography reports.

Welter, who was sworn in on July 15, 2016, as representative of Illinois’ 75th District, advocates for limited government, local control of schools, defense of the Second Amendment and for the "sanctity of life," according to his website. He has volunteered as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army's holiday Red Kettle campaign and delivered diaper donations to We Care of Grundy County and the the Kendall County Community Food Pantry, according to this website.