May 10 , 2005 Print this page

Karen Pushaw, Who Gave up the Board Room for a Soup Kitchen, Receives Honorary Doctorate at La Salle University, Her Alma Mater

There was no epiphany for Karen R. Pushaw to give up a law career to work with the poor. It was just a series of moments that led her to trade the board room for the soup kitchen where she has worked full-time for the past 12 years.

“It was something I was supposed to be doing,” she said. For her efforts in helping the poor, Pushaw, a 1978 graduate of La Salle University, was presented with an honorary doctorate at the school’s May 15th commencement exercises.

Since 1993, Pushaw has been part of a team of eight who supervise the daily operation which serves 300-500 people a day at St. Francis Inn, located in the city’s Kensington section

After graduating from La Salle and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Pushaw began working as an attorney at a Philadelphia law firm, specializing in commercial and antitrust litigation, before transferring to a top firm to practice transactional securities and corporate law. Despite this success, Pushaw said she was “aware of the poor around me. I would see homeless people in the subways and the train stations.

She took a year’s leave of absence from her law firm to work at St. Francis Inn, then took a second year off. That’s when she made the decision to stay there.

“I didn’t know what I was getting into until I got into it,” she said. “And there it was.”
As a co-director of the Inn, she has been able to use her legal background to assist in legal and real estate matters, particularly in acquiring property for the Inn’s expansion and in securing housing for volunteers in nearby row houses.

She has also supervised University of Pennsylvania law students seeking to fulfill their public service requirements and has assisted the poor in a variety of legal matters, such as tenant issues, abuse cases, employment problems, public assistance, disability and other benefits matters, child welfare, and criminal cases.

Father Francis Berna, Director of La Salle’s Graduate Program in Religion, presented the honorary degree to Pushaw. “Given the historical mission of the Christian Brothers to serve the poor and La Salle University’s emphasis on community service, it is indeed fitting to present Karen Pushaw for the degree,” said Berna.

Pushaw has given her time to other local nonprofit organizations as well. She has been the chair of the board of the Delaware Valley Housing Coalition, which provides advocacy and education on housing issues, and a member of the board of advisors for the San Damiano Foundation, which produces films that publicize the plight of the poor around the world. She has also served as legal counsel for the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry, a program whose volunteers provide direct services to the poor, and the Franciscan Mystery Players, an organization for teenagers that stages dramatic meditations on the life of Jesus and St. Francis of Assisi.

On leave from the St. Francis Inn for the academic year, Pushaw is currently studying for a master’s degree in theology at the Washington Theological Union.

Pushaw is a native of the Philadelphia area. She has two nephews and four nieces. She enjoys traveling, running, reading, crossword puzzles, cooking, music, archeology, and astronomy.