NEW BUFFALO — A $20,000 donation to suicide prevention in Berrien County surprised both recipient and donor.

Four Winds Casinos announced its donation to Berrien County Suicide Prevention Coalition Oct. 11. The money came from a one-day, Sept. 20 staff event at Four Winds’ New Buffalo location.

The organizers set a goal of $2,500. They passed that goal within the first half hour of the seven-hour event, said Brant Coulter, food and beverage director of Four Winds and general manager of the business’ Hard Rock Café.

“If you ever wanted to have team pride and a reminder of who you’re working with and how great your company is and how great the people are that comprise it, that was the day,” he said. “For sure.”

The suicide prevention coalition will use the money to expand its free services and workshops and find out how to best serve Berrien County residents, said chair Bella Nichols.

“The coalition is strictly run based on donations and volunteers that help out with it,” she said. “This will help do some amazing things for the community.”

The coalition — made of members representing Spectrum Health Lakeland, Berrien RESA, Veterans Affairs, Lory’s Place, Berrien County Health Department and the general community — connects those affected by suicide and suicidal thoughts with resources and spreads information to help others find the signs that someone may be considering suicide.

The donation, Nichols said, could go to fund free suicide prevention training programs, finding out best practices to apply informational sessions in schools and expand their programs to more people in more places around Berrien County.

“The time is right, right now, for suicide prevention,” Nichols said. “There is still that stigma that’s around it, but not so much now. I’ve seen a change in the past few years. People are ready to talk. They’re sad, but they’re also mad that this had to happen in their family or to their friend.”

A willingness to talk about suicide was at the root of Four Winds’ staff fundraising event, Coulter said.

The Hard Rock Café staff reached out to the coalition to host a June fundraising event on Anthony Bourdain Day, June 25, the birthday of the renowned chef, food critic, TV personality and writer who died of suicide in 2018.

“When Anthony Bourdain passed away, it was a tough blow for many of us in the industry,” he said. “Beyond just his TV shows, his work as a writer and speaking directly to people in the [food and beverage] business, he was our Don Quixote, in a way.”

So, the staff hosted a Bourdain-inspired dessert selection for guests and raised $500 for the coalition, which had a presence at the event.

The Hard Rock team wanted to go farther, however.

“The outpouring of people that came forward to us after we did this Bourdain Day, both staff members and guests, made us realize that there are more people within our company and more of the general public that were affected by suicide,” Coulter said.

So, they set up a food truck at Run for Hope and Recovery 5K and sold bracelets to raise funds. Then, in what Coulter called a snowball effect of fundraising, the team and the greater Four Winds team set up a staff day where employees could donate to dunk their bosses.

The organizers offered $5, $10 and $25 attempts to throw three balls at a dunk tank from various lengths. A $100 automatic push was also offered.

Coulter expected a handful of $100 pushes throughout the day. Instead, push after push occurred, done so by all sorts of employees, from executives to slot technicians to bakers.

Midway through, executives propped up on the dunk tank began offering matches — $50 spent on balls could result in a $500 match, Coulter said.

By the end of the event, $20,000 was raised by a majority of the staff on duty in Four Winds’ New Buffalo location that day. Others came on their day off, some driving from Four Winds’ other locations in South Bend, Hartford and Dowagiac.

The event, Coulter said, was a testament to the impact suicide and mental health has on many people.

“It’s not a disease akin to heart disease or cancer, where it’s comfortably discussed,” he said. “It’s one of things that tends to live in the shadows.”

Like the coalition, Four Winds brought it out into the daylight — and into the dunk tank.