With huge investment banks going belly up and bank CEOs standing in line to pull the rip cords on their golden parachutes, an 11-year-old Big Island girl can help teach the world about doing the right thing.

Mikela Mercier was shopping with her mother at the Salvation Army Family store in Kailua, Kona, when she paused to look at a Richards Simmons VHS exercise videotape.

When she slipped off the cardboard jacket to look more closely at the tape cassette, out popped a wad of cash.

"When I discovered the money, I immediately looked for my mom who was inside the dressing room and I told her, 'We got to give it to the man,' " Mikela said in a news release issued by the Salvation Army.

Mikela, a sixth-grader at Ke Kula 'O 'Ehunui Kaimalino Hawaiian Immersion School, found the store manager and handed over the $1,000 she had just discovered.

Store manager Jimmy Thennes said it was "truly remarkable that Mikela instinctively knew the right thing to do."

"I truly admire her honesty," Thennes said in the news release.

Jodi Mercier, Mikela's mom, said she is very proud of her daughter.

She said Mikela had "chicken skin" after finding so much cash, but knew that the money rightfully belonged to the Salvation Army so the agency could help people in need.

As a token of its appreciation, The Salvation Army has offered Mikela a gift certificate.