Three students bought a 20 dollar couch from a thrift store, but little did they know that something hidden inside the couch would change their life, and they would be rewarded for kindness, selflessness and generosity.
1. The Happy Housemates
NY college students, Reese Werkhoven, Cally Guasti and Lara Russo, were best friends. In search of freedom, they decided to move into an apartment together. They had everything they needed in the apartment except a couch.
2. An Ordinary Couch From A Thrift Store
The three friends were just students, and they couldn’t afford a brand new couch. So they went to a thrift store and spent 20 dollars on a second-hand one. The couch did not look like much but what they found later in it was beyond their wildest dreams…
3. Home Sweet Home
After bringing the couch home, the three had finally completed furnishing their home. The best part was, the couch only cost 20 dollars! It was such a steal, and the three couldn’t wait to try out this bargain. The friends loved their couch and they did movie nights sitting on it. But one night they found a particularly crinkled spot that made it very uncomfortable to sit in for a long time.
4. Feeling Uncomfortable
At first the trio thought they couldn’t complain because the couch was so cheap, but out of curiosity, they decided to find out what was under the crinkle by tearing off the built-in pillow. And when they did it, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
5. A Gold Mine!
The three began to rip the couch piece by piece, and they found something hidden in the pillows. It was covered in bubble wrap, and they couldn’t wait to open the wrap to reveal the mystery. Inside the wrap were envelopes. And inside the envelopes were 100 dollar paper bills! They stacked the bills together and they reached the height of an inch and a half! They couldn’t believe their eyes, but what they decided to do next gave us a lesson.
6. They Were Heard By The Neighbors
The roommates were so excited that they had found so much cash in a 20 dollar couch from a thrift store. They started jumping, screaming and laughing. Even the neighbors heard them and thought they “won the lottery or something”, Guasti told the reporters. Now why don’t you take a guess as to how much money they had found?
7. The Overall Worth
After initial excitement, the three began counting the money. The an inch and a half of 100 dollars bills cost them nearly 20 minutes to count, and the total worth was 41,000 dollars! But the story did not end here; it was what the roommates did with the money that surprised the whole country.
8. Hoping For The Best Life
They could buy a lot of fancy things with that money, things they only imagined having. Werkhoven confessed that, “I would have bought my mom a new car. What she drives is a piece of junk, and I really wanted to surprise her with a brand-new car.” But later the friends found something else, something that would change their minds.
9. One More Discovery
As the three friends searched the sofa for any more bills, they found a name written on one of the envelopes. This could be the rightful owner of the money. All the happiness and excitement diminished quickly. Now they had to make a hard choice: to return the money to the potential owner or to take the fortune as their own?
10. A Hard Choice
Werkhoven, Guasti and Russo thought hard about what to do next. As ordinary students, the money could help them a lot, like paying student loans or adding some furniture in their apartment. As Russo stated, “We had a lot of moral discussions about the money. We all agreed that we had to bring the money back to whoever it belonged to… it’s their money – we didn’t earn it.” Their conscience urged them to make the decision to find the real owner.
11. Find The Real Owner
After making the decision, the three began searching for the real owner. With the help of their parents, they found the contact number of the person whose name was written on the envelope. They were going to call that person, but was the person the real owner?
12. The Real Owner
The trio didn’t want to give the money to the wrong person, so they thought hard on how to confirm the person they were calling was the real owner. They decided to drop a hint about the couch first and see if that person would open up about the money. So Werkhoven called the phone number. She recalled their phone conversation as, “I’m like, ‘I found something that I think is yours,’ and she’s like, ‘What?!’” And I’m like, ‘I found a couch,’ and then she’s like, ‘oh my God, I left a lot of money in that couch.’”
13. Giving Back The Money
Once they found the real owner, they set up a meeting to return the money. The owner turned out to be a senior lady. She had kept her entire life savings inside the couch, and she couldn’t believe there were still such kindhearted people left in the world.
14. The Holy Reward
The meeting was full of happiness and fulfillment. The three students were happy because they had done a good deed, and the lady was grateful to have her money back. “When we handed the money back to the woman, she told us that she felt like her husband was present in the room with us,” Guasti said. They talked a lot about each other’s life, and the trio was surprised when they found out why the lady had chosen to hide her savings in a couch.
15. Full Of Inventiveness
The trio asked the lady why she hid her savings inside the couch instead of putting the money in a bank or vault. The lady said that she wanted the money near her. She thought the couch she was sleeping in was the safest place for her savings. Then the question was why she sold the couch?
16. Unforeseen Event
The lady told the roommates that she was confined in a rehabilitation center for some time. When she got home, her daughter, who didn’t know what was inside the couch, bought her a new more comfortable bed and sold the couch along with all the money.
17. Faith In Humanity: Restored!!
If people were to receive such a huge fortune, and be given a chance to return it, how many people would choose to return the money? It would be way less than we’d assume. But these three students, Werkhoven, Guasti, and Russo, show us there are still good Samaritans left and there is still a chance for humanity.
