News

Why an ATM is better than your couch

May 15, 2014

First off, your family can't donate the ATM where you deposit your money to the New Paltz, N.Y., Salvation Army while you're having health issues. But they might donate your couch.

Fortunately for a 91-year-old woman who had stuffed her sofa cushions with cash, the item was purchased and hauled home by three 20-somethings with a conscience, a report by the Stevens Point Journal said.

When one of the roommates unzipped an arm cushion to find up what was up with the lumpy stuffing, she discovered an envelope full of banknotes. And then another. By the time all of the envelopes had been retrieved and counted, the total came to $40,800.

The roomies also found a deposit slip in one of the envelopes and discovered that the woman whose name was on the slip was the previous owner of the sofa — and the cash. 

"At the end of the day, [the money] wasn't ours," one roommate told the JournaI "I think if any of us had used it, it would have felt really wrong."

So, the three drove to the woman's house and returned the cash. But kept the sofa, apparently — they're sitting on it in the picture that accompanies the story.