Man Finds $43,000 Hidden In Couch From Thrift Store, Returns It To Family

A Michigan man is being praised after returning $43,000 he found hidden in a couch he just bought. Howard Kirby purchased the sofa and ottoman for only $70 at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Owosso and discovered wads of cash hidden in the cushions when he got home.

"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," Kirby told WJRT.

He reached out to a lawyer, who told him he could legally keep the money, but then he started to have second thoughts.

"I'm a born again Christian, and what would Jesus do? Jesus would give it back to the rightful owner," Kirby said.

Instead of keeping the money for himself, Kirby contacted the thrift store and let them know about the cash.

"I know how it is to lose something and never get it back," Kirby said.

Workers contacted the woman who donated the couch and asked her to come down to the store. When Kim Fauth-Newberry arrived with her family to meet Kirby, she thought he found photographs or another memento from her grandfather who passed away last year. She wasn't expecting he was going to hand her $43,000 in cash.

"It's just crazy," Fauth-Newberry told WNEM, adding, "It's completely awesome.".

Kirby said that returning the money was the right thing to do and that it made him feel good.

"I've heard about it happening before, and I always thought, what would I do if I found that money? Now I know," he said. "Makes me feel good. I believe I'm doing the right thing."


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