Dean Menezes – Sethu’s Trustee (2022-24) and North Star (Forever)
For Team Sethu, the month of July 2024, has started with heartbreak. Our youngest trustee Dean Menezes left us on July 1, after facing a brief illness with much courage. We feel as if the brilliant sun has moved behind a dark ominous monsoon cloud as we grapple with the enormity of our loss.
When Sethu was born in 2005, we did not know Dean Menezes personally but he was watching us. A steadfast believer in mental health and a passionate advocate for children, he supported Sethu in his characteristic, silent way for many years. In 2016, when we started our fledgling mental health service, his company CMM Logistics Pvt. Ltd, funded it. During Covid-19, the world changed inconceivably, threatening the very existence of not for profits. To prepare for the worst, in April 2020, we formed the Sethu Crisis Management Think Tank and invited Dean to be a part of it. He readily agreed. We shared our gloom over the financial situation in Indian industry and the non-availability of Corporate Social Responsibility funds. However, he reassured us that things were not that bad at all, imbuing us with optimism. With his active participation and goodwill, Sethu was able to obtain more CSR funds that year, than ever before.
Dean’s involvement with Sethu grew over the years and in 2022, he officially joined the organisation as a Trustee. Since then, there has been no looking back. Dean is one of the kindest and smartest people I have had the honour of knowing. He held his power and intelligence lightly, with his quiet, unassuming, charismatic ways. Despite his high status in society, he was the epitome of humility and gentle assertiveness. His calmness was the perfect foil to my high emotions. When I was frustrated and let people know my honest opinions, without filters (and sometimes without thinking!) Dean would step in, take my inputs and calmly help us find solutions. He offered assistance generously and openly and seemed to have answers for every conceivable problem that plague the non-profit sector. With Dean as a Trustee, our very ambitious building project that started in 2018, made great progress post-pandemic, thanks to his expert guidance. He was knowledgeable and wise about every aspect of construction, organisational administration, fiscal planning, human resource management -the list can go on. Over this year, despite his rapidly deteriorating health and the intensive treatment that he was undergoing, he continued to attend monthly trustee meetings online, contributing with enthusiasm and keeping hope alive. That is because he cared deeply for Sethu’s work and was committed in action to our vision of a world where every child is nurtured and celebrated.
As I write these lines my distress at the passing of Dean lifts a tad, as I remember and record all that he meant to Sethu. We feel inspired by his leadership that remains like gentle rain on the desolate landscape of our hearts. Dean will always be our guiding light, and in knowing him, each of us has become a better person. Rest in peace, noble, kind Dean, we promise to carry forward the torch you so fiercely held for children and their families.
(The writer is the Director of Sethu)