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Teen returns
$2,000 found in
rental car

The money was donated
last Christmas to a kids'
Hawaiian studies program

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

The McMillans were driving home from Easter brunch in Honolulu when their son in the back seat of the rental car said:

"I think we need to return something."

Maj. Richard McMillan turned around and saw his 14-year-old son, Charlie, sitting in a pile of money.

The youngest McMillan found $2,000 in cash and checks in an envelope under the passenger seat.

Charlie then did some research and tracked the owner. It turned out the money had been donated at a Christmas party for a kids' Hawaiian studies program at the Nuuanu YMCA. The money lost on Christmas was returned on Easter.

"I felt I was giving on Easter instead of receiving all the time; it was a good feeling," the teenager said.

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Charlie McMillan shows his father, Maj. Richard McMillan,
where he found an envelope containing $2000
in checks and cash in a car.

The owner of the money, Carolee Nishi, a hula and ukulele volunteer teacher at the YMCA for 33 years, was happy about the money, but elated about the teen.

"There's more value in a child who is honest than the money he found. He adds trust to the whole system," Nishi said. "His parents should be congratulated."

The envelope containing the donations was misplaced before Nishi even counted it. She never knew how much money she had. But she figured if it was meant for her organization, it would return.

"We had a nice Christmas and a great Easter," she said. "We are very, very grateful."

Although he thought about keeping the cash for a split second, McMillan said returning the money to the rightful owner was the only thing to do.

The first clue he followed was "HHK" written on the envelope. He began searching in the phone book, with no luck.

Then his dad suggested calling some of the people who had signed the checks.

They tracked down a check to a woman who had given money to a YMCA fund-raiser. HHK stood for Hula Hui O Kapunahala, the program Nishi runs.

The elder McMillan, stationed at Hickam Air Force Base with his wife, Karen, and their three sons, ages 17, 15 and 14, said, "I felt good because I thought, 'I've actually done a good thing here. I've raised him right.' "