SELINSGROVE, Pa. -- It's been a little more than a week since one of our area's largest employers shut down, laying off nearly 1,000 people. Many of those people got some answers Tuesday at a meeting with the state Rapid Response Team.
Hundreds of people walked into Susquehanna University's Weber Chapel Auditorium in Selinsgrove. These are not college students, but former Wood-Mode employees. They were here to meet with Governor Tom Wolf's Rapid Response Team.
"We pull together any resource we can to provide the dislocated workers with what are their next steps, how do they get health insurance, how do they get assistance finding a new job," Erica Mulberger asked.
Mulberger is executive director of Central Pennsylvania Workforce Development. She and other local organizations were here, as well as the state's department of labor and industry.
"How do they make sure that they get health insurance which ended or their retirement benefits? They're getting a presentation from their 401k provider today," Mulberger said.
The meeting was only open to Wood-Mode employees and cameras were not allowed inside.
More than 700 people showed up, including Jeff Mull. He had questions about his pension.
"I was talking to another fellow about the pension and the man at the bank who is actually in charge of it overheard us. He introduced us and gave us a card, so I have that information now," Mull said.
Most of the people Newswatch 16 spoke with say this was a productive meeting and they got a lot of good information.
"It's just pretty overwhelming with all the information and assistance that they're providing for us," Michael Holesapple said.
"There's a lot of people who had a lot of questions that had no idea what to do and what's going on. So, yeah, I think it's a really good idea," Mull said.
There are two upcoming job fairs in the Selinsgrove area. One is Wednesday at the Selinsgrove VFW and another one is June 4 at Selinsgrove Area Elementary School.