J Kristin Olson-Garewal MD

CO-FOUNDER

Co-Founder, Board Member, and CEO. Dr. Olson-Garewal retired from Medicine after a 46-year career primarily as a Medical Director of health plans and programs including State Medical Director for AHCCCS (Arizona’s experimental Medicaid Program) and University Medical Center’s Managed Care Program. While on the faculty of the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine, she was consultant to the Yaqui Nation, starting an innovative life-style diabetes program which to this day continues to result in ongoing regular physical activity starting in childhood and decreased community diabetes incidence.

Thanks to a grant from The Greenwall Foundation, from 2000-2002 Dr. Olson-Garewal studied medical bioethics with Allen Buchanan, a philosophical ethicist now at Duke University. During that time she chaired a panel discussion at a World Health Organization ethics conference in England and later convened a two-day conference of First Nation healers and leaders along with Federal government health program heads in the United States. Both events addressed the question: “Should Government Pay for Traditional Indigenous medicine?”

The final years of her medical practice were five years at an Arizona State men’s prison. She had become interested in prison healthcare after being part of a team doing a court-ordered medical audit at Arizona’s main State prison.

She has volunteered at free clinics in Tucson, Guatemala, Mexico, Kentucky and Tennessee (the US locations were with Remote Area Medicine, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee). She received her BA and MD degrees through Boston University’s Honors Six Year Med Program.

Raj Garewal

CO-FOUNDER and PROJECT MANAGER

Co-Founder and Board Chairperson. In response to concern about the growing number of unsheltered Tucsonans, Mr. Garewal researched solutions on the internet. The villages of prefabricated individual shelters being used in Southern California stood out as the most rapid solution. After meeting with a number of non-profits and government agencies, he found that no entity was doing anything along those lines, and none were interested in starting. So he founded The Homing Project after persuading his physician-mother to do the grant applications. Mr. Garewal has worked with multiple programs for the unhoused and recovery communities. He had been most involved as a full-time volunteer at the Saint Joseph Homeless Center in Santa Monica, CA. He eventually turned down The Center’s job offer as a case manager in order to finish his undergraduate degree. Mr. Garewal received his BA in English from Loyola Marymount University and completed additional studies in Creative Writing at Warwick University, England. He is currently a Geico insurance agent while applying to Law School which he plans to start in 2024.

Richard Spaulding

BOARD MEMBER and PROCUREMENT MANAGER

Mr. Spaulding recently retired from El Rio Health Centers after 44 years overseeing procurement and project management as El Rio ballooned from the single original site to an additional 16 new medical centers throughout Tucson. He was particularly interested in the center that was developed for unhoused patients’ unique needs such as a kennel for pets that could not be left in extreme hot weather during appointments. He graduated with Baccalaureate degrees in Anthropology and Art History from the University of Arizona.

Yolanda Sethi, BA, MSW

BOARD MEMBER and VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Ms. Sethi for 32 years worked as a Clinical Social Worker and Bilingual Educator. She began her career as a Clinical Social Worker at La Frontera Center in South Tucson. Then she moved to Mission View and Ochoa Elementary Schools in South Tucson. At first working as a Social Worker, she subsequently acquired formal credentials in order to be a bilingual teacher and curriculum specialist at Ochoa Elementary School in South Tucson where she was until her retirement in 2013.

Ms. Sethi has supported many local organizations and has volunteered at Tu Nidito Children’s grief support program, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Catholic Relief Services’ Casa Alitas, and the Ronald McDonald House. Since becoming The Homing Project’s Volunteer Coordinator, Ms. Sethi has increased its volunteer cadre from 35 people interested in volunteering to over a hundred with monthly meetings, interest-oriented subcommittees, and a newsletter.

She has Baccalaureate Degrees in Spanish and Mexican American Studies from Loyola-Marymount University, a Master’s Degree in Social Work from UCLA, and a Post Baccalaureate Degree in Bilingual Education from the University of Arizona.