Though he attended Lehman College for four years, it wasn’t until alumnus Moises Belizario, ’20, opened his first Lehman College alumni e-newsletter that he learned that his alma mater had a food bank that serves students. And that’s when things clicked.

“For the last year and a half I’ve been wanting to connect my program with Lehman, but I didn’t know how to do it,” said Belizario. “So, I called Suzette and said I would like to bring meals to Lehman students, because I heard that the pantry needed donations.  ‘Yes, let’s make this happen’.”

The program Belizario was referring to, is Cucina Dolores, a mobile food pantry that provides home-delivered meals to seniors and other housebound individuals through the nonprofit organization, RAIN (Regional Aid for Interim Needs). The Suzette he referred to is Suzette Ramsundar, associate director of Campus Life and head of the Herbert H. Lehman Food Bank.

On May 13, Cucina Dolores and Belizario could be found outside Lehman’s Gate 5 on Goulden Ave., serving hot meals to students.

Belizario, who graduated with a degree in multimedia performing arts, has already succeeded as a performing artist, writer, and producer. But he is making plans to return to school to earn a master’s in social work.

Moises Belizario

“Lehman College is part of my journey and part of my story,” he said. “It is officially engraved into my heart and a journey of a lifetime. If my classmates—I still call them classmates because we’re still all learning—are in need, it’s not me taking time out, it’s me just showing up and bringing the service to my brothers and sisters. It’s a must.”

As an alumn, Belizario aspires to become even more involved “with the fabric of the [alumni] organization” as he continues to reach his own goals.

And he has a message, not only for the students he’s serving, but for everyone at Lehman: “Don’t see Lehman as only as a place of education but also as a place of growth, like a training ground of life, to really get involved with each other, to get to know an amazing, diverse population of students that can relate to each other from the ground up. Look around and identify a piece of you within someone else.”