WINDHAM — The numbers speak volumes.

As of June, according to the Maine Department of Labor, at least 680 people in this town were collecting unemployment benefits. Ditto for 476 people in Standish, 180 in Raymond, 159 in Naples, 147 in Casco, 76 in Sebago ...

"Remember all those people who lost their jobs (in recent months)? They still don't have one," Jim Sanville of Windham said Tuesday.

Until his layoff in May, Sanville, 52, edited an employee newsletter and other internal communications for L.L. Bean in Freeport. A generous severance package enabled him to take some time and catch his breath, but he's now looking for a job – and at the moment, it doesn't look promising.

Ditto for Bruce Small, 59, of Raymond. He lost his job in May as a workplace safety consultant for Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Co. and, because he worked as an independent contractor, he can't even collect unemployment benefits.

Sanville and Small know they're not alone. They know there are people out there who have it worse then they do. And they know that with Maine's unemployment rate at 8.4 percent, a full three points higher than a year ago, it's time those at the eye of this economic storm start talking about it.

"We're not experts in this by any means," said Small. "We're just people who feel like there's a need."

Introducing the Lakes Region Job Transition Network – a sign of the times if ever there was one. From moral support and networking to e-mail etiquette and interview skills, the grass-roots group hopes to give jobless people in these parts an alternative to the emotional and psychological abyss that often follows the pink slip.

It all started in June, when Small and the Rev. Dana Reed, pastor of the North Windham Union Church, got talking about the darker side of unemployment. The side where confidence gives way to self-doubt, applications go unanswered and those numbers – almost 60,000 fellow Mainers are currently out of work – do little to ease the isolation that comes with yet another day trolling the Internet for that elusive job opening.

"I think it's tough for some people to pry themselves away from the couch and the game shows and the soap operas sometimes and get their butts involved with another group. It's scary for people," said Sanville, who joined the job transition group's steering committee after being approached by Reed, a neighbor.

Scary indeed. But in a job market where whom you know means at least as much as where you look, this is no time for wallowing in isolation or self-pity.

Starting this week, the group will meet at 2 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. Reed has donated the use of the parish hall at the North Windham Union Church on Route 302, although Small stressed that the gatherings are neither religious nor limited to people from the Lakes Region.

Already, Small said, the group has pledges of support from the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, the Lake Region Development Council and several local businesses.

Each session will feature a formal presentation – Sanville, for example, will do one on how best to communicate with a prospective employer via e-mail. Time will also be allotted for people to share what's happened to them – whether it's the white-collar professional who fell victim to corporate downsizing or the construction worker who can't find a job site that's hiring.

"I just take it for granted that everybody has Road Runner Turbo, three Macs and an iPhone. That's my world," said Sanville. "But there are people who aren't computer-literate and don't have the resources and don't have employment and are selling the lawn mower to pay the electric bill."

How all those people might help one another – assuming they show up at all – remains to be seen. The kickoff meeting was originally scheduled for...