Jennifer Knox owns The Sand Bar Restaurant on Tybee Island, Georgia.

For years, customers were encouraged to leave “love notes” on the wall of the business when stopping by. And it just so happens that those messages were written on dollars bills and stapled to the wall.

After the state of Georgia widely mandated that people stay at home to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus, the bar closed its doors.

From that point, restaurants were only allowed to do carry-out – but that meant that the business’ bartenders and musicians wouldn’t be earning paychecks.

It’s been a devastating time for the restaurant industry, but some places are really pulling together and taking care of their staff in the hopes that people will be able to return to their old jobs when the public safety orders are lifted and it’s truly safe to reopen.

Knox is one of those people.

Without money coming in, it’s impossible to keep up employee salaries for long. But to show her staff she cared, she decided to give them the money she did have – the bills stapled to the wall.

While they were memories of past customers, it was also cold, hard cash that deserved to be used for necessities instead of decor in a time like this.

“We were sitting there doors locked and I’m like oh my gosh, ‘there’s money on the walls and we have time on our hands,” she told CNN. “‘We gotta get this money down.'”

Knox has owned the bar for 6 years (after bartending there for 7) but some of the bills have been up there for 15 years.

For 3 and a half days, volunteers gently took down the delicate and weathered bills, even carefully removing the ones with dozens of staples used to secure them to the ceiling.

There was even foreign currency up there – and it was all painstakingly removed so that the restaurant’s bartenders and musicians who were without jobs could divvy it up for necessities.

Each staff member got about $600.

After a week of cleaning the money, it was ready to be counted and distributed.

It turns out there were 3,714 US dollars stapled to the walls and ceiling. That – plus the foreign money at the current exchange rate and some donations – left Knox with $4,104 to hand out.

The Sandbar won’t look the same when it reopens since it’s getting a fresh coat of paint while it remains closed for public health and safety, but its reputation for generosity will be unforgettable.

Knox isn’t sure if they will continue the tradition of stapling bills, but they have some time to figure it out since she’s committed to remaining shuttered until it’s safe.

You can scroll down below to see an interview with the generous bar owner.

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Tybee Island bar uses renovation to donate to employees

Everyone knows how far a dollar bill can go. One Tybee Island bar owner proved that when she took the dollar bills dotting her walls down and donated more than $4,000 to her employee that have been out of work.

Source: CNN, Eater, Jennifer Knox via Facebook