A bar with walls covered in bills has pulled them down to donate close to $14,000 to Bahamas hurricane relief.
The Siesta Key Oyster Bar (SKOB) in Florida has the unusual decor thanks to a long-standing tradition which sees customers staple bills to the wall when they visit.
“Every few years we take the money down and donate to local charities," general manager Kristin Hale told the PA news agency. “This time the owners felt that we should give to the Bahamas."
It took staff a month to pull all the notes from the wall (Siesta Key Oyster Bar)
The Bahamas was devastated by the effects of Hurricane Dorian, with 56 confirmed deaths, 600 missing, and around 1,500 still living in shelters in the country, according to the World Health Organization, over a month after the storm hit.
A huge fundraising effort has taken place around the world and in particular in nearby Florida, with SKOB one of a number of businesses in Siesta Key coming together to collect money.
With so many bills built up over the last three years since the walls were last cleared, staff at the bar had a hard job taking them all down.
“It took the staff a full month to get down what we did, and there are still some hanging," Hale said.
When the money was tallied, the SKOB staff had a total of $13,961 to hand over.
People were moved by the idea!
Wonderful way to show support https://t.co/EdebeqP7Qh— Deb Ducko (@Deb Ducko) 1570144282.0
And loved that their money was helping others!
Support small businesses!
Support small business with heart. If you’re in Sarasota, FL check out Siesta Key Oyster Bar “Bar donates the $13,9… https://t.co/mx04XsLV4f— Pablo Hernandez (@Pablo Hernandez) 1570042148.0
Send it on!
Sharing by people that shared. https://t.co/ZzO43iWNOK— michael johnson (@michael johnson) 1570195038.0
We were all surprised.
a rare Florida good news item https://t.co/4E3S6XJTuF— Kevin French (@Kevin French) 1570145699.0
Money well spent!
Just saw on the news that Siesta Key Oyster Bar donated all of the hanging money for the Bahamas. Through my 20’s t… https://t.co/DYQVpPcGRI— Ryan Spellman (@Ryan Spellman) 1570099855.0
“We never expected it to amount to as much as it did," Hale said. “We are super thankful that we were able to do this for the people in the Bahamas."
A further fundraising event with three other restaurants and bars in Siesta Key on Sunday collected an additional estimated $10,000.