With bad economic news hitting us daily and more likely around the corner, we know that many of our friends and neighbors are hurting and need help.

Rather than just reporting these facts and moving on to the next story, The Advertiser has teamed with Helping Hands Hawai'i, KGMB9 and First Hawaiian Bank to help raise money through our Neighbors in Need Fund, which seeks to help those who have recently lost their jobs.

The program is targeted at laid-off employees of Aloha Airlines, ATA, Molokai Ranch, Hawaiian Telcom and other companies that have gone out of business or downsized. We live in a place where gasoline and food prices are extraordinarily high, where new home loans have slowed by half, where unemployment and foreclosure claims are steadily rising and where fuel surcharges are making travel, electricity and shipping prices unbearable.

Beginning one week ago, The Advertiser and KGMB9 began telling the stories of those out of work and described what life has been like without a steady income. This program, patterned after the Advertiser Christmas Fund, is scheduled to end by late July.

The need is real. Helping Hands Hawai'i has seen a rising number of clients looking for financial assistance. For the first five months of last year, Helping Hands had assisted 745 families and through May 31 of this year, the number had jumped to 892, or by 20 percent. The amount of assistance families requested also jumped, from $55,708 to $74,060 — a 33 percent increase.

Scott Morishige, program manager of Helping Hands Hawai'i's Community Clearinghouse, said most of the requests last year were for small but important needs, such as emergency bus vouchers for transportation, and this year the most common request is for help paying past-due electricity bills. The numbers bear this out: Helping Hands spent $7,865 on electric bills for needy families between January and May 2007, and for the same period this year the amount is $24,153.

Those seeking assistance must provide a termination notice from an employer, proof of their current income (an unemployment benefits stub or a spouse's paycheck will do) and evidence that they have an emergency need, such as unpaid utility or medical bill. Applicants go through an intake interview process conducted by case managers from Catholic Charities Hawaii and the Honolulu Community Action Program. There they are asked the details of their situation and what specific help they need.

When we hatched this idea, we had no idea how people would respond. After all, almost everyone is feeling the pinch. But we also know that Hawai'i has a heart, as evidenced by the donations to the Hawai'i Foodbank that increased 14 percent from last year, from 8.06 million pounds of food, to 9.19 million pounds.

Checks made out to the "Neighbors in Need Fund" can be dropped off at any First Hawaiian Bank, sent to Helping Hands Hawai'i at 2100 N. Nimitz Highway, Honolulu HI 96819 or by credit card by calling 808-440-3831. Donations can also be made online at www.helpinghandshawaii.org.

We hope you will help your neighbors in need.

Mark Platte is senior vice president/editor of The Advertiser.