PORTSMOUTH — Members of Every Student Initiative (ESI) had two things to celebrate at the annual Be Great for Nate Night fund-raising event at Schultzy’s Snack Shack on Saturday.

One was the passage in the General Assembly of a suicide prevention training bill that’s expected to be signed into law by Gov. Daniel McKee. The measure requires all public school districts to adopt suicide prevention policies and train all personnel in suicide awareness and prevention annually.

Students also acknowledged what would have been the 19th birthday of Nathan Bruno, who died by suicide on Feb. 7, 2018. Nathan’s tragic death propelled his friends — some of whom worked with him at Schultzy’s — to form ESI, a student group under the nonprofit Be Great for Nate (BG4N) organization that pushes for mental health resources in public schools.

The Nathan Bruno and Jason Flatt Act — Jason was a boy who took his life at the age of 16 in Nashville, prompting the original bill that had been adopted in 19 other states — was first introduced in the R.I. General Assembly in 2019. Although it received plenty of support, the measure never made it to the governor’s desk that year because a few key stakeholders, such as Rhode Island NEA, the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association and the ACLU, opposed some of its language. And last year, due to the pandemic, the bill languished.

But after the legislation was retooled, it found a more receptive audience and flew through both chambers of the State House. The State Senate passed its version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. James A. Seveney (D-Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol, Tiverton), and the House approved its companion measure sponsored by Rep. Terri Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown).

Members of BG4N and ESI say they’ve received assurances the bill will be signed into law by Gov. McKee.

“He’s going to have a signing ceremony with us in July,” said Steven Peterson, executive director of BG4N.

For Rick Bruno, Nathan’s dad, seeing the bill finally become law is beyond gratifying.

“We’re thrilled,” he said. “It’s been a long two years trying to get it through, and we’re excited about how many people it will be able to help. If one person can be helped or saved through the law, and if many people can be made aware of the signs of suicide, it will all have been worth it. Suicide rates are on the rise. We don’t know the statistics from last year, but there’s a really good chance they’re going to go up even more with COVID.”

The law will also allow his son’s name to live on in memory — not just for Nate’s own friends and family, but many others as well.

“The month that Nathan was born, a new law was born, and he’s going down in history as helping a lot of people,” Mr. Bruno said.

Marcus Evans, a veteran member of ESI who testified in favor of the bill in both 2019 and this year, said he was happy to see the legislation to its conclusion.

“I feel it was a much-needed law that needed to be passed, and we accomplished a lot,” said Marcus, a member of the PHS Class of 2021 and a member of ESI for nearly four years.

“My brother and them started it,” he said, referring to his older sibling Tyree, “but Nathan was also a friend of mine. I joined because I thought it was a great cause — something that nobody had done.”

‘Whole community together’

Saturday’s event featured games such as cornhole and Connect Four, raffles, music, refreshments and more.

“This event is a fund-raiser, but it’s also to get the whole community together and see what we’re doing, so it’s not just the kids who are doing it,” Marcus said.

Mr. Peterson said BG4N was grateful for all the support it received Saturday.

“We were pretty amazed with all the support we got, especially after such a tough year for so many,” he said. “But we actually found that people were more open to give; they wanted to give back to the community. We ended up with I think nearly $10,000 in prizes to give out to people. All this money will go toward helping to make sure we can continue to give free suicide prevention training to youth.”

ESI has been growing steadily since its founding three years ago. Now there’s a middle school group, and three eighth-graders who just recently signed up were at Schultzy’s helping out. “Schultzy’s has been such a huge supporter of us,” Mr. Peterson said.

Mr. Bruno said ESI and BG4N will continue their work in pushing for suicide prevention in the community, and look forward to next year, when a series on mental health in America by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will be aired on PBS. A crew filmed members of ESI in 2019, and the finished product is expected to be broadcast in spring 2022, “to bring awareness to mental health on all levels,” Mr. Bruno said.

There are many to thank for the passage of the suicide prevention bill, he said, including Mr. Peterson, the wider community, and big sponsors such as the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, Clark Flatt, Ken Burns and others.

But “the vision and seed really started with Nathan’s closest friends,” with whom he still keeps in touch, Mr. Bruno said.

“We’ve got a group text going on right now. We’re still close. We have a couple of regular get-togethers each year.”