A man in Owosso, Michigan, got a huge surprise recently when he found thousands of dollars in cash tucked inside a thrift store couch cushion.
In December, Howard Kirby bought a couch at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to spruce up his man cave but noticed one of the cushions was uncomfortable, according to Fox 2 Now.
When his daughter-in-law decided to investigate, she unzipped it and found something neither one of them expected inside the $70 couch.
“That’s when she started pulling out this,” Kirby said, holding up the wad of cash that totaled a whopping $43,170.
As any person would do, Kirby began making a list of all the ways he might use the money.
“Everything just ran through my mind: Now I can pay off the house, I can get a roof on my house, and I can retire real good and everything,” he said.
However, when Kirby spoke to a lawyer who told him he could legally keep the money, his faith told him that would be wrong.
“I’m a born again Christian, and what would Jesus do? Jesus would give it back to the rightful owner,” he said, adding, “The Holy Spirit just came over me and said, ‘No, that’s really not yours.’”
Kirby then contacted the store, and the store got in touch with the family who donated the couch. It had belonged to their grandfather who passed away one year ago.
“It’s just crazy,” said granddaughter Kim Fauth-Newberry when Kirby handed her the money Thursday, adding, “It’s completely awesome.”
ReStore Manager Rick Merling praised Kirby for his good deed and called the situation heartwarming.
“To me, this is someone that despite what they’re going through — and in spite of their own needs — says ‘I’m just going to do the right thing,'” he said.
Kirby stated that he was glad to return the money to its rightful owners because it did not belong to him in the first place.
“As a born-again Christian, I want to do what Christ would want me to do, and I think that’s what he would want me to do,” he concluded.