“To improve building morale and make the staff feel appreciated” — that is the goal of a grant from the Chuck and Will Kirlin Fund being distributed to each school in Brown County.

“Staff morale is the key to a happy and healthy workplace,” said a press release from the Brown County Community Foundation.

“When a good and healthy work environment exists, employee morale is much higher, which creates positive energy and maintains a productive work environment.”

A grant of $250 will be given to each school from this fund to help maintain staff morale, thanks to fundholders Bob and Chris Kirlin who chose to support school staff with the grants.

Morale building ideas include treats, lunch and notes of support throughout the year.

“This year’s grant is designed to help honor the hard work of our school’s staff. Positive employee morale leads to an increase in productivity and efficiency in the workplace, and as studies have shown, produce higher quality work too,” the release said.

The release said that staff morale when employees are working with youth is “paramount,” and that during the past few years educators have been shouldered with working through a pandemic “with little to no precedent.”

“With these grants, we hope the schools will have added support to reward our educators with things to brighten their days,” the release said.

“Every bit of encouragement we can give our educators is important.”