Sixteen men from our region went to Texas to do a good deed and find some work... but it didn't *work* out.

The men say they were hired to help clean up after a hurricane hit Texas. But now they say they were taken to the cleaners.

The men are stranded in the lone star state. They say they are victims of what they call... a scam.

The workers thought they were being hired by FEMA contractors to rebuild after Hurricane Ike hit Texas. But instead... they show up for work to find there isn't any.

A FEMA spokesperson told us the agency does not contract out crews, and they knew nothing about this situation. FEMA'S headquarters in Texas is looking into what happened.

"It's inconceivable to think the federal government would ask citizens to get themselves down there."

So for now, 17 families are waiting for their loved ones to come home.

"They thought they were going out there to make money because things are tough here."

Jeff Walsh from FEMA says disaster cleanup is usually done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or by local jurisdictions. He says FEMA never hires off-the-street crews... but it could be that a subcontractor hired these workers and left them hanging.