Sarasota bar with nearly $15,000 stuck to walls donates money for hurricane victims in Bahamas

SARASOTA, Fla. (FOX 35) - Staff members at a Sarasota bar have taken nearly $15,000 in bills from the walls to help victims of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.

According to USA Today, the Siesta Key Oyster Bar in Sarasota is known for its dollar bill decorations. For the past 16 years, bar patrons would write messages on a bill and staple it to the wall.

Ever since Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas in September, employees have been carefully taking the dollar bills off the walls in order to donate the money to hurricane relief efforts.

"Seeing the tragedy and what happened there was horrible," assistant general manager Samantha Lemmer told USA Today. "We knew immediately we had to pay it forward. It was devastating seeing what happened to everyone there." 

So far, employees have peeled off a total of $13,961 and the manager said there is still plenty more on the walls to collect. The goal is to pull off $15,000.

Lemmer said the tradition of stapling money to the wall comes from an old fisherman's tale where sailors would stick money on the wall and then come back later after a hard day's work, pick the money back up, and buy a beer.

SKOB, as it’s known to locals, also teamed up with three other local businesses, Daiquiri Deck, 3.14 Pi Craft Beer & Spirits and Gilligan’s Island Bar, to hold an event that raised about $10,000 this past weekend. The proceeds are going to Bahamas Red Cross.