ELKHART -- Thursday morning, John VanDusen stood by the snack machine, looked at a map and tried to decide where to go first.

Lured to the recreational vehicle industry by a bigger paycheck, VanDusen is now among the countless workers laid off. For two years he worked at Forest River and he survived three layoffs this year but the fourth one, in May, got him.

He has been talking to employers and mailing résumés, even to companies in Kentucky and Ohio, but few have called back and the job offers he has gotten, he said, did not pay enough.

Not knowing what else to do, the Osceola resident spent part of his day at the Worker Transition Workshop in the Elkhart Area Career Center. The map he scanned showed the different local, state and federal agencies in attendance and where they were in the building.

Organized by U.S. Reps. Joe Donnelly, D-Granger, and Mark Souder, R-Fort Wayne, the event put a variety of bureaus, offices and assistance programs in one location so workers who have lost their jobs or are in the process of being downsized could find information and help they need without having to search.

Covering many of the exhibitors' tables were brochures and pamphlets detailing the programs and services offered. Help with health care, federal benefits, training programs, personal stress and, of course, the job search were available.

"We're here to serve the community," said Jean Perrin, executive director of the department of workforce and economic development at Ivy Tech Community College. "We wouldn't be anywhere else."

Many of the visitors to the Ivy Tech table were looking to get degrees in health care or manufacturing, Perrin said. The school also has been receiving more calls from workers wanting to know what programs can enable them to upgrade their skills.

It is a sign of the times as the mainstay of the Elkhart County economy, the RV industry, continues to hemorrhage jobs and the current market is beginning to resemble the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

With the entire industry in a slump, workers cut from one company can no longer get a job building RVs at another facility.

"RV workers hitting the streets, all I can say is good luck," VanDusen said.

At the Indiana Health Center booth, Karen Harris, assistant case manager, and Clara Kyle, case manager supervisor, were telling area residents, faced with losing their insurance, about the medical and dental care offered for free or for a sliding fee.

Workers who stopped by the booth were upbeat and positive, Harris said. They were looking for something good to happen.

Jane Hochstetler of South Bend was smiling as she picked up information and asked questions. The mother of two lost her production job at Coachmen Industries during the July 4th holiday and she recalled the news hit her hard.

"I cried when they laid me off," she said. "I cried all the way home."

Even the workers who keep their jobs are seeing their hours cut, and consequently their paychecks shrink, which can crunch a family budget as well.

Amy Kennedy, director of the home ownership center at LaCasa Inc., was passing out information on how local residents can stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure.

The number seeking help from LaCasa is up 138 percent in 2008 over 2007 and, Kennedy said, the agency is bracing for the expected spike to come when the 1,430 workers are laid off from Monaco Coach Corp. and from the mortgage adjustments expected in November and next March.

Hochstetler blames rising gasoline prices for her misfortune. Initially she was laid off when Strauss Bakery closed, in part, because of the climbing fuel costs made deliveries more expensive, and now she has been downsized from the RV industry as consumers turn away from the vehicles because of pump prices.

She learned to build cabinets at Coachmen, enjoyed the work and her co-workers but she does not anticipate getting another job in the RV industry.

"I'm just looking for something new," she said. "I learned to operate power tools so maybe I can learn something else. I need to keep working. I want to work. I just want a job where I can stay busy and be a team player."