Seventeen miles to the next big town is a long commute to find a job when you don't have a car or an income.

Just ask Edward James Mersberg, former Molokai Ranch camp coordinator. Every time he sees the now-shuttered ranch, he gets an empty feeling.

"We pass by there to go camping," said the 49-year-old Mersberg. "It makes me sick to see it all vacant. We closed up the camp and locked up the gate."

In the span of one month, four companies — Molokai Ranch, Aloha Airlines, ATA airline and Weyerhaeuser Co. in Hawai'i — all announced they would close permanently, sending 2,362 Hawai'i employees into the job market.

To help the laid-off workers, public and private agencies have formed Neighbors in Need, which has raised $81,379 so far.

The state received more than $5 million in federal grants to help the airline workers retrain for new jobs and pay for job-search expenses.

After Molokai Ranch closed, the state applied for a similar grant totaling $389,000 to help displaced workers with training, counseling and career planning, said James Hardway, spokesman for state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

This is a sad time for Moloka'i, said Annette Pauole Akakuleo, county business specialist at the Kuha'o Business Center, but there are bright spots.

"I know of some jobs," she said. "There's some teachers' assistant positions and farmers are looking for helpers and the local pharmacy created two jobs recently. The community is coming together. We're trying to help each other."

HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT

On Moloka'i, 64 of the 117 laid off have filed for unemployment benefits. Last month, Moloka'i was tied with Lana'i for the highest unemployment rate in the state.

Some of the 8,000 residents on Moloka'i have found work off island; others are working at the Monsanto farm in Kaunakakai, one of the biggest remaining employers.

Each week that Mersberg collects his unemployment checks, he must obtain three signatures from prospective employers, which is a challenge in itself because he doesn't have a car and public transportation only goes as far as Kaunakakai. The job search is even tougher.

He used his federal economic stimulus check last month, plus help from Neighbors in Need, to pay rent on a two-bedroom home in Maunaloa that he shares with his 16-year-old nephew.

"There are just no jobs on Moloka'i," Mersberg said. "Not even part-time. All my unemployment money goes to food and utilities, all those basic living expenses."

He earns too much between his unemployment checks and his nephew's income to qualify for food stamps.

"I have no idea what I can do," Mersberg said. "It's hard for me."

But when he was in Kaunakakai, he learned about Neighbors in Need from the Office of Social Ministry, a church-led group teamed with Helping Hands to make contact with laid-off workers, said Scott Morishige, Community Clearinghouse project manager for Helping Hands Hawai'i. The agency has helped people like Mersberg pay for gas, utility bills and rent.

"They know each other and are willing to talk to each other, rather than an outsider," Morishige said. "This way they wouldn't have to be so embarrassed to ask for help."