Local volunteers distribute 23,000 phone directories

Volunteers over the next few weeks will deliver 23,000 Green Valley-area phone directories, a wellspring of information and telephone numbers of the people who live here, available services, how-to information and updated maps.

Joyce Finkelstein, executive director of the sponsoring Green Valley Community Coordinating Council, said the directory was the result of “a wonderful community effort.”

Finkelstein had special praise to GVCCC staff member Sandi Richey and area resident John Norris, “who drove the area’s streets” checking the accuracy of the directory’s maps.

Besides overseeing the project, Finkelstein also had some special jobs, for instance calling and checking all the phone numbers for many of the white pages in the front of the book, including a guide to local clubs and organizations.

One of the most helpful pages is the guide is “Frequently Called Numbers.”

“Whenever we get a call from someone looking for a phone number we turn to that page first, and usually the number’s there,” said Finkelstein.

“People here use us like the telephone company to get a number,” said Richey.

The Frequently Called Numbers page is organized to be useful, not necessarily to be totally accurate.

For example, the number for the Joyner-Green Valley Library is listed as “Library,” not the Pima County Library branch or the Conrad Joyner Pima County Library, its more formal names.

Oh, that number is 791-5192.

The GVCCC staff keeps track of the numbers people ask for during the year and they may be included in future editions.

This is the 38th annual printing of the directory.

The book’s publisher is AT&T Yellow Pages. Advertising in the book pays the production costs.

This year’s featured agency, with a full-page introduction, is the Green Valley Community Foundation.

The directory’s cover is a picture of a rainbow arching over part of Green Valley. Nancy Martin took the picture and entered it in the annual directory-cover contest.

It reflects this year’s theme, “Green Valley, a Rainbow of Opportunities.”

There’s lots of information in the book. Besides giving a person’s name, address and phone number, listings often say where the persons lived before coming here and their past occupation.

There’s a section of phone numbers in numerical order giving the names of who gets their calls there.

Also there are also listings of street addresses and the names of the occupants and a listing of the states, cities and towns where local residents came from.

There are more residents here from California than any other state, said Finkelstein, adding “not from some cold Northern or Northwestern state.”

Homeowner associations representative, the Rotary Club, the Marine Corps League and Junior Naval ROTC at Sahuarita High School helped deliver the directories.

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749