Ernie Akimseu spent 21 years with Aloha Airlines and life was good for his family, but now he can't get a decent job at the age of 45.

Ever since Aloha shut down its passenger service on March 31, Akimseu has found himself $1,500 short each month in meeting his bills. But Akimseu insists that other former Aloha workers are having a much harder time and he hopes a new initiative by Helping Hands Hawai'i, The Honolulu Advertiser, KGMB9, and First Hawaiian Bank not only raises money to help pay the bills of recently laid-off workers but also raises awareness of the plight of people too embarrassed to ask for help.

"I'm hoping this will bring out the fact that a lot of people from Aloha Airlines are still hurting and they're ashamed to come out, especially my older friends," Akimseu said. "They can't understand how this could have happened."

The Neighbors in Need Fund is aimed specifically at the 1,900 Aloha Airlines employees who were the victims of one of the biggest mass layoffs in Island history, along with workers from Molokai Ranch, ATA and Weyerhaeuser Co. and anyone else who recently lost her or his job, said Scott Morishige, program manager of Helping Hands Hawai'i's Community Clearinghouse.

"These are people just like you and me who weren't prepared for something like this to happen," Morishige said. "Financially, they're still struggling."

Many of the recently laid-off workers need serious assistance with medical expenses, utility bills, or gas money to go on job interviews, Morishige said.

The Neighbors in Need donation drive kicks off today and will run over the next few weeks, with The Advertiser and KGMB9 running stories about some of the Helping Hands clients and their circumstances. First Hawaiian Bank will be accepting donations throughout the drive.

Last year by May, Helping Hands had spent $7,865 assisting people with paying their electric bills. As of May this year, the nonprofit had spent $24,153 on electric bills.

In all, Helping Hands has given aid to 892 households this year, up from 745 last year at this time, and paid $74,060 in assistance, up from $55,708.

The recent layoffs at Aloha, ATA and others helped nudge Hawai'i's unemployment rate to 3.3 percent in April, versus 2.5 percent a year earlier.

Sluggishness in Hawai'i's $11 billion tourism sector — where arrivals were down 8 percent in April — and other signs of a slowing economy forced the state to scale down tax collection estimates last week. That in turn could spur cuts in government spending.

Many of those affected by the layoffs may be embarrassed to seek outside assistance.

"As far as asking for help, it's not something that comes first nature for these people," he said.

SLOWING ECONOMY

The Neighbors in Need Fund comes during a time of transition for Hawai'i giving.

Last year, Aloha United Way saw donations fall to $12 million, from $13 million in 2006.

But as of last week, donations to Hawaii Foodbank had reached 9.19 million pounds — up from 8.06 million pounds in the same period last year, said Polly Kauahi, Hawaii Foodbank's director of development.

Norm Baker, vice president of community building for AUW, believes the increase in donations to the Foodbank may coincide with the slowdown in Hawai'i's economy — and increased demand for help.

"A year ago, everything was pretty solid (in Hawai'i's economy) around the same time that our campaign fell short of our goal," Baker said. "Interestingly, the recent Foodbank letter carrier effort brought in more than twice the poundage of food."

Baker thinks people in Hawai'i will continue to give to help recently laid-off workers.

"Historically, when times are the toughest that's when people in Hawai'i step forward," Baker said. "A crisis is a solidifying event that makes people say, 'We do have a problem here and we have to step up to meet it.' "

The Neighbors in Need Fund may especially appeal to donors because it seems that everyone knows someone who lost a job recently, Kauahi said.

"It's auntie, it's uncle," she said. "We know it can happen to us, it can happen to our family. People went from making $70,000 a year and within three weeks they're at the Foodbank and they're in danger of losing their house. Here in Hawai'i, we're all living with that reality."

RUSTY AT JOB SEARCH

Akimseu was living that life barely three months ago.

Now he's having a tough time getting hired, despite Hawai'i's low seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.3 percent in April.

"After 20, 30 years of being at the same job, they haven't been on a job interview or had to look for work," Morishige said. "And they're competing against people fresh out of school for jobs that often require computer skills. They don't have those skills."

Akimseu has applied for about 20 jobs so far, from the Honolulu Police Department to commercial truck driving positions that would take advantage of his commercial driver's license. Through his training at Aloha Airlines, Akimseu is also certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and using a defibrillator.

But he only made it as far as an interview for one job — as a storeroom driver. And the interview involved a panel of four people asking him questions.

"It was stressful," Akimseu said. "I found myself dropped into something I never had to do in 20 years. I was shocked."

So Akimseu continues to fill out job applications while adjusting family finances for himself, his wife, Serina, 39, and their daughters, Kaili-Ann, 11, and Bailey, 8.

"When I was with Aloha, we were comfortable," Akimseu said. "We could eat out three times per week. We could get things that we wanted, not that we needed. We traveled three times per year for free on Aloha. We were enjoying life."

BACK THEN, AT ALOHA

Akimseu started out with Aloha at 25, cleaning airplanes and off-loading bags and cargo on Maui.

He transferred to Hilo in 1992 as a ramp agent and three years later met his future wife, Serina, while commuting back and forth to his new job as a ramp service agent in Honolulu.

"Back then, everybody asked me where I worked and when I said, 'Aloha,' there was an 'Oooooh.' Good company, flying benefits and one of the best medical plans ever."

Serina had been a reservationist with Aloha, moved to customer service and then decided — against Ernie's advice — to leave Aloha for the Transportation Security Administration after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

"I said, 'Aloha — they'll be here forever,' " Ernie said. "She knew something was going to happen. She had a feeling there would be concessions, right before we got our first 10 percent cut.

"It was the smartest move in both of our lives. I thought everything was going to turn out fine. But she didn't."

Akimseu has since spoken to his lenders, many of whom have agreed to restructure the payments on bills such as the $2,700 monthly mortgage on the family's four-bedroom, two-bath home in Mililani.

But he still receives "at least 10 phone calls a day from creditors, when Ernie never had a late payment before," Morishige said.

While Akimseu insists that his former co-workers have it much worse, he's also determined to find a job that will allow him to get the family back to where it used to be.

"I'm 45," he said. "I'm a proud individual. I know I still have a lot of life left in me. I'm going to do what I can to get a good job."

Staff writer Sean Hao contributed to this report.