KAPALUA - Laid-off employees at Maui Land & Pineapple Co. said they're determined to bounce back, despite facing an uncertain future, The Maui News reported.

"The more you worry, the more you're going to stress and cause more trouble for yourself," said Wailuku resident Jeff Romero after attending a two-hour session held by the state Rapid Response Team, attended Tuesday by about two dozen ML&P employees who lost their jobs last week.

"I've lost jobs before, and I've always been able to land on my feet," said Romero, a husband and father of two who worked in Kapalua Land Co.'s information technology section for seven months.

Another employee, Tom Vrbensky, who works as a concierge and has been a resort employee for 16 years, said the layoff could mean another opportunity.

"It's not the end. It's the beginning," he said.

Led by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Rapid Response Team provides job counseling, career planning and information about child care and other issues.

Last week, ML&P announced it is cutting 274 positions. Forty-six employees from Kapalua Resort and 24 from the company's corporate and community development units were invited to Tuesday's session.

Another session for the 204 Maui Pineapple Co. workers has been tentatively scheduled for laid-off pine workers Aug. 11.

"We're here to help them. It's all positive. It really is," said Elaine Young, administrator of the labor department's Workforce Division.

Young and the Maui Branch Manager Kevin Kimizuka said laid-off employees have a wide range of options, including enrolling in job-training courses at Maui Community College at a 50 percent discount.

ML&P Communications Manager Karee Carlucci said the company's Human Resources Department has been relaying possible job opportunities after contacting several other large employers on the island.

"These employees have been with us for years," she said. "They're our ohana. They're our family, and we want to help them wherever we can."

Most of the laid-off employees want to remain on Maui, according to Carlucci, and a number of them have indicated they won't work for a while.

"Some of them say they want to take a break, take time to regroup," she said.

The Rapid Response Team held similar sessions this year for hundreds of laid-off workers from Aloha and ATA airlines and for Molokai Properties Ltd.

Darwin Ching, director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said the reactions at the Kapalua session were familiar, unfortunately. "There's always a shock and disbelief in terms of what's happening," he said.

There also were representatives from the Department of Human Services to help with child care options and the Department of Health to assist with mental health counseling.

"The governor believes our job is to help people and if this what they need, we want to give them that help," Ching said. "There's a lot of anger. There's a lot of shock. There's disbelief, and people need help in coping with that."

Still, Romero said he never heard one word of anger during Tuesday's session at the Kapalua Resort. "Everybody's cool with it. They understand what's happening," he said after the meeting.

Many workers declined comment.

In addition to individual counseling, career planning and employment development, workers received information on training options, unemployment benefits, welfare assistance and medical benefits.

Barbara Luksch of Hawaii Covering Kids offered workers help with providing health insurance for their children. She said she expects more layoffs involving other Hawaii companies.

"It's hard, but I see it's going to keep happening," she said.

Carol Reimann, executive director of the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association, said she asked association members to provide information on job openings and received responses from 13 companies with position vacancies.

She didn't have figures on the exact number of openings available, but "we do have some openings for people, and we can find them some jobs," she said.

Reimann said some hotels and condominiums were looking for workers, and other businesses such as banks and Meadow Gold Dairies also have positions open.

"It doesn't look so dismal. At least we have some opportunities for them," Reimann said.

But compared with last year, there are fewer jobs.

At one of the larger member properties, Reimann said there were 200 openings last year, and now there are only 29. She said the property did not want to be identified.

Reimann, who worked at Kapalua for at least two decades, called the job cuts "sad." "It really hits home," she said.

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