It started with a calendar.
During her Jesuit Volunteer year in Boise, Lauren Pusich made a unique commitment to her community: twice that year, she dedicated time for intentional one-on-one check-ins with each of her six community mates and her six support people. It wasn’t a task—it was a practice. A way to deeply connect with those who were helping her grow and, in turn, helping her serve others. It was a demonstration of her generosity, her commitment to community, and the value she places on building lasting, meaningful relationships. That spirit of intentional connection defined Lauren’s Jesuit Volunteer year, and it’s never left her.
Lauren arrived in Boise in the fall of 2015 with a heart full of faith and a determination to live her values out loud. Assigned to serve at the Women & Children’s Alliance, she brought not just her skills, but her whole self. Her community mates remember her as a grounding presence—someone whose love for others was as deep as her faith. “Her spirituality is big,” Claire Kelly (she/her) recalled. “And she lives it out.”
“Community was the best, and oftentimes, the hardest part,” Lauren later reflected. “But it is also the piece that has really stuck with me since—deeply strengthening my faith in ways I can’t fully express. It gave me the opportunity to live love in a way I hadn’t been able to before and has shaped how I live out love in the world now.”
She didn’t just pray for love—she became it.
Today, ten years later, Lauren’s life and work still bear the marks of that transformational year. Now based in Seattle and working as a network builder at Catholic Community Services, Lauren continues to live into her values with clarity and commitment.
Gina Fudacz, Program Manager at CCS described Lauren’s organizing style as “grassroots, boots on the ground” work. Her connection to parish communities and her passion for justice play out in her work as she works to build community within and around CCS.
Whether she’s coordinating with local parishes, listening to community needs, or showing up with steady presence, Lauren embodies the Jesuit Volunteer values in ways both visible and profound. She’s not just part of communities—she creates and sustains them. She believes in people, and she builds systems around that belief.
Dan Cadaret, a longtime colleague and friend, puts it simply: “She is able to give without thinking about it, very freely.”
Lauren’s passions are as varied as they are authentic—whether she’s analyzing Vanderpump Rules, cheering for the Seahawks, cosplaying, or deepening her spiritual life, she brings her full self to everything she does. That authenticity is what drew people to her during her JV year—and what continues to inspire those around her today.
The Boise JV community still thrives. Their group chat is alive with check-ins and shared joys. Lauren is now godmother to her former housemate’s twin daughters—a role that speaks volumes about the bonds formed during that year of intentional living.
When asked about her motivation back in 2015, Lauren shared, “God does not make us what we pray for. God gives us the opportunity to become what we pray for. I came into my JV year with the intention to become that love in the world.”
And she has.
This year at our annual benefit dinner, we were proud to honor Lauren Pusich (Boise ’15–’16) with the 2025 MAGIS Award, recognizing her continued embodiment of the Jesuit Volunteer values and the quiet, powerful ways she transforms the communities she’s part of.
Lauren, thank you for becoming the love you sought to see in the world.
