Man returns $43,170 found in thrift store footstool

Associated Press
Monday, Jan. 20, 2020 10:55 a.m. | Monday, Jan. 20, 2020 10:55 a.m.

In this Jan. 16, 2020 photo, Howard Kirby (left) gives $43,170 to Kim Fauth-Newberry at a resale store Thursday in Owosso Township, Michigan. Kirby’s daughter-in-law found the money in a footstool that was donated to the store by Fauth-Newberry. The footstool had belonged to her grandfather, who died last summer. Kirby bought it along with other furniture after Christmas.

OWOSSO, Mich. — The footstool didn’t feel right. That’s what happens when someone stashes $43,170 inside and apparently forgets about it.

Indeed, the money was discovered inside a footstool that was donated to a Michigan resale shop in Owosso Township.

Howard Kirby bought the piece and other furniture for $70 after Christmas. He was stunned Sunday when his daughter-in-law unzipped the cushion and shouted. After the shock wore off, he began the extraordinary step of returning the money to the former owners.

“I do what I can to be as much like Christ as I can, and this is the moral thing to do,” Kirby, 54, said. “This is going to help them. I’m so happy for them.”

The footstool was part of a living room set donated to a Habitat For Humanity store by Kim Fauth-Newberry and her husband. The furniture had belonged to her grandfather, Phillip Fauth, who died in July.

Fauth-Newberry said Fauth was a frugal man who always paid in cash, even $9,000 for a new roof. The newly discovered money was separated with paper clips and topped with handwritten notes.

“This is crazy,” Fauth-Newberry said Thursday, staring at stacks of hundred dollar bills.