The DeKalb County Community Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of the Karen & Joseph Grush Charitable Fund. This new donor advised fund will provide support to DeKalb County organizations that promote services for families and children.

Karen and Joe Grush know the benefit of supportive families. As first-generation college students, they greatly benefited from the support of parents who believed that education and public service can open doors to better and fuller lives.

Early in their careers, the Grushs relocated to DeKalb. Joe started as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Northern Illinois University and Karen began working at the DeKalb County Health Department as a public health nurse. Joe was tenured and eventually promoted to full professor.  Following that, he entered the administrative ranks serving as Director of Graduate Studies and Chair of the Department of Psychology, Associate and Acting Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and retiring as Deputy Provost for Budget and Resource Planning. Karen also succeeded in her profession at the DeKalb County Health Department serving as Director of Nursing and then as the Public Health Administrator for the organization. Both Karen and Joe were employed by NIU and the Health Department for nearly 40 years.

Throughout their lives, the Grushs have shared their knowledge and talent with several philanthropic organizations as members, office holders, and volunteers that align with their passions for education and public health.

Karen and Joe have a daughter, Elizabeth, who resides in Geneva, Illinois with her husband and two children. During the Bosnian War, through Rotary International, the Grush family welcomed Aleks Kosoric, into their home and he has been a son to them ever since. Aleks, his wife, and daughter currently live in Sycamore.

“In recognition of the Foundation’s twenty-fifth anniversary, we decided to establish the Karen and Joe Grush Charitable Fund,” said Karen and Joseph Grush. “With guidance from our parents and support from our childhood communities, we have been blessed with much success. This was the opportune time in our lives to give back to the DeKalb County community.”

Donations to any fund at the Community Foundation, including the Karen & Joseph Grush Charitable Fund, can be made online at dekalbccf.org/donate, or by mail to the DeKalb County Community Foundation, 475 DeKalb Avenue, Sycamore, IL 60178. For questions or additional information on funds, please contact Executive Director Dan Templin at 815-748-5383 or dan@dekalbccf.org.

Pictured: Local philanthropists Joe and Karen Grush.