Glen Paul student Elijah, an 11-year-old, found an unexpected surprise at school recently: An envelope filled with $454 in cash.

Elijah, whose last name is being withheld by the district for privacy reasons, is in a primary class at the school for severely handicapped students, in which he learns pre-vocational skills like shredding documents. In an envelope — which dated back 16 years — the wad of cash was found by he and an aide who assists him with the shredding task.

“He was holding the envelope and [the aide] was helping him and they discovered it together,” Glen Paul principal Damon Collier told the Times-Standard.

The envelope and its contents were traced to Western Chainsaw, a family owned business in Eureka that essentially “spring cleans” its old paperwork through Glen Paul’s pre-vocational shredding program.

John Hague, owner of Western Chainsaw, was impressed when the school contacted him about returning the cash.

Hague said the envelope was money for fuel “back from when we did the Budget rental trucks.”

“It was really heartwarming,” Hague said. “You don’t see a lot of that kind of honesty any longer. To have them teaching these kids that, I think it’s a great thing.”

The day after Hague was contacted about the return of the money, he came to the school with a gift for Elijah and his classmates: Three dozen donuts and a check for $500 for the school.

Hague described Elijah as “a very nice kid” who “smiled a lot.”

Later, the Glen Paul students showed their appreciation by giving Hague thank you notes. Hague said he plans to display the “awesome cards” around Western Chainsaw.

“We are grateful for the gift and appreciate Western Chainsaw’s support of our students and our program,” Collier said.

And Hague couldn’t be happier about helping the school, which intends to use the $500 for support their activity fund.

“Honestly, it went to a good cause and I hear they’re going to make something fun for the kids for that,” he said. “It’s a great program they have going on there.”

Contact Ruth Schneider at 707-441-0520.