One-Woman Welcoming Committee Greets Conejo Newcomers

Georg’Ann Cutter walks delicately up the driveway of some stranger’s home, a white wicker basket in hand and a smile splashed across her face.

She rings the doorbell, but there is no answer.

She opens the screen door and knocks loudly. Still, no answer.

“What a bummer,” says Cutter, 77, as she turns to head back down the drive. “When people aren’t home, that’s the most frustrating thing about this job.”

For the past 30 years, Cutter’s business has been to catch people at home.

Through her firm, the Conejo Valley Welcoming Service, Cutter has earned a reputation as Thousand Oaks’ ambassador of goodwill, calling on new residents to welcome them to the city and pass on information about what the community has to offer.

Although she makes a modest living from her home-based business, she doesn’t do it for the money, she said. It’s more a diversion to keep her busy.

Each week she buys an escrow list, with names of all the people who have moved into a new home, condominium or townhouse.

Then, working out of her blue Volvo station wagon, she visits those residents and welcomes them to the community with packets of information ranging from advertisements for home milk delivery to specials for prescription drugs.

Working about three hours a day, four or five days a week, Cutter visits about 100 homes a month.

“The people are just so darling, and meeting them is the best part of doing this,” she said. “But the bad thing is that I don’t really get a chance to get to know them. . . . I usually just see them once.”

Cutter began in the welcoming business back in the 1960s with Welcome Wagon. When that company went under, she decided to carry on with her own firm.

Although she does it more for pleasure than necessity, Cutter does manage to make a few dollars with a list of business clients who pay her to deliver their cards or advertisements.

It’s an inexpensive way for them to advertise. Prices for businesses range from 50 cents to $1.10 per package. She makes about $12 per package, or about $1,200 a month.

Other than the price of gasoline and wear and tear on her car, Cutter has little overhead, so most of the money is socked away.

For the most part, Cutter said the businesses she has approached have been only too willing to participate.

“I think they really like the idea,” she said. “Doesn’t cost them too much, and they seem to think it’s a nice thing to do.”

Warren Towle, part owner of VIP Meal Delivery in Thousand Oaks, said the decision to sign on wasn’t a difficult one.

“It wasn’t much money, and it’s been a good way for us to get our name out circulating in the public,” he said. “Any bit of advertising is good, and we’ve gotten some business from it.”

Watching Cutter in action is a study in honed people skills.

With her easy manner and seemingly perpetual smile, she can disarm even the most jaded of people.

Christine Ortiz, who was not one of them, said her welcome package came as a pleasant surprise.

Cutter ran into Ortiz as she returned home with her 4-year-old son, Garrett. Within 30 seconds Cutter had an invitation inside, where she sat in the living room, made small talk and explained all the information in the packet.

“Would you be at all interested in a free facial?” Cutter asked. “Or how about roller-skating? Are you interested in roller-skating?”

In the end, Ortiz found a few things in the packet she might use, such as the number for a handyman.

“This was a surprise and so nice,” she said. “I didn’t think anybody did this kind of thing anymore.”

* OPEN DOOR: A Simi Valley job club helps its members who have been laid off. B7

* MORE BUSINESS NEWS: B7-9