When three college students from New York sought out a bargain on a couch, they had no idea what surprise awaited them between the cushions.

Cally Guasti, Lara Russo and Reese Werkhoven recently visited their local Salvation Army to purchase a couch for their apartment, selecting the only one that would fit the dimensions of their place. Upon bringing the couch home, the women tried out their purchase. It was then that they discovered an envelope containing $700 in cash hidden under the arm of the sofa.

The students were shocked. They immediately began searching the couch and found several more envelopes similarly filled with money. All told, they discovered $40,000 in stashed cash. Amidst the bills, they found a woman’s name.

Despite the temptation to keep the money, the young women chose to contact the person whose name they found. They hoped to return the money to its rightful owner. When they reached out by phone, they received an answer.

The woman on the phone immediately told the she had left a lot of money in the couch. The three students were plunged into a conundrum. They were hesitant to return the money if the woman was a bad person. They were uncertain what they would do in that case.

But when they reached the home, the woman’s daughter and granddaughter met them at the door. The students say they knew it would be all right from that point. They learned that the money was a weekly gift from the elderly woman’s husband in the weeks before his death. She had hid the money in the couch. Unfortunately, the woman’s daughter had sold the couch when her mother needed to alter her living space due to a surgery. Somehow the couch ended up in the Salvation Army, where the students found it.

For their honesty, the woman gifted the students with $1000.