What started as a cheap dorm room upgrade turned into an unforgettable moral test for a group of college students.
It all began in February, when a few friends living in a college dorm picked up a secondhand couch from a local Salvation Army. It wasn’t much to look at — a little musty and worn — but it fit their space and their budget.
A few nights later, while watching a movie, they noticed something odd. The armrests felt strangely lumpy.
“I pressed into one of the side cushions and felt something hard,” said Werkhoven, a geology major at SUNY New Paltz. “We opened it up and found bubble-wrapped envelopes — packed with hundred-dollar bills.”
Shocked, they kept digging — and uncovered envelope after envelope filled with cash. As they counted and snapped photos, the total climbed past $40,000.
“At first, we were all just thrilled,” said Russo, one of the roommates. “One of us joked about buying his mom a car. Someone else said, ‘I’m getting a boat!’ It felt surreal.”
But the excitement faded quickly. One of the envelopes had a name written on it — and everything changed.
“The moment I saw the name, the high just vanished,” recalled Guasti, a Mount Holyoke grad. “It didn’t feel right to keep it.”
Unsure what to do, they reached out to their parents, who advised them to try finding the rightful owner. After some digging — and with help from a phone book — Werkhoven’s mom found a matching phone number.
“I called and said, ‘Hi, I think I have something that belongs to you,’” Werkhoven explained. “She gasped, ‘Oh my God, I left so much money in that couch!’”
The woman on the other end of the line — an elderly widow who asked to remain anonymous — had stashed the cash years earlier. Before he passed away, her husband had given her the savings to secure her future. Distrustful of banks, she hid it inside the couch. But after undergoing surgery, her children unknowingly donated the couch while she was recovering in a care facility.
Ironically, the students almost didn’t buy the couch because of its smell and shabby appearance — but it was the only one that fit their dorm.
Despite the temptation, they never looked back after returning the money. They even had dinner with the woman and her family afterward.
“She gave us $1,000 to split as a thank-you,” said Russo. “But more than that, it just felt good to do the right thing.”
“You don’t have to be a hero,” Werkhoven added. “You just have to choose to be decent.”
What would you have done if you found $40,000 hidden in your $20 couch? Let us know in the comments below. 👇💬
