Judy Gervais recalled how she was about to mark her 20-year anniversary working at the Clear Pine Mouldings mill in Prineville when her employer told her she was no longer needed there. ”I was 45 when they let me go and I thought, OK, what do I do with my life?’ I had never planned on leaving and never called in sick for 20 years,” she said. ”They did me a big favor.”

She began collecting her state unemployment insurance benefits and the Oregon Employment Department referred her to WorkSource Redmond.

WorkSource Central Oregon, which also has offices in Bend, Madras, Prineville and LaPine, is part of a state network of public and private partners that offers free job services for employers and workers.

The organization recently adopted a logo for all its offices to promote awareness about the services throughout Central Oregon, said Robin Cope, coordinator for WorkSource Central Oregon. In Gervais’ case, WorkSource cobbled together a package of local and federal services that funded a two-year massage-therapy study program at Central Oregon Community College.

Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council paid for her first term and books and the cost for her national and state licensing exams.

Gervais was also eligible for a U.S. Department of Labor program that helps to retrain workers in declining industries such as wood products manufacturing. That program covered the other eight terms at the college, books, massage therapy tools and travel expenses to Salem for her licensing exam.

”It shows there’s a true partnership and it’s extremely important for the partners in Central Oregon to offer these services and that people can go to one place for cross-referrals to all these organizations,” said Patti Cook, business and employment supervisor at WorkSource Redmond. ”If one partner can’t cover all the costs, the partners get together to make it happen.”

Gervais said she wouldn’t have been able to piece together the resources alone.

”If it wasn’t for them, I would’ve probably ended up in another mill and I didn’t want to do that,” said Gervais, who had been earning $13 per hour doing precision-end machine work.

About a year ago, she started Keep in Touch Massage Therapy in Redmond and Prineville, and said self-employment is wonderful, hard work.

”It’s less stressful, I’m dealing one on one with people and it’s getting me out and I’m seeing there is something else out there,” said Gervais, 48.

She is one of about 11,000 job seekers who have gotten job-hunting help from WorkSource Central Oregon and the 8,600 it helped land jobs from July 2003 through March 2004, according to Cope.

The centers recruit, screen and refer applicants whose skills match available jobs. Employers can get free help from the centers for job fairs and occupational testing. The centers can assist in applying for tax credits and worker training grants, as well as helping develop specialized training programs and locating other state and local business resources.

For job seekers, the centers offer training and education for high-demand occupations; referrals to long-term, family-wage jobs that match their skills, and help with basic skills in reading, math, writing, listening and speaking.Cathy Carroll can be reached at 541-383-0304 or at ccarroll@bendbulletin.com.