Want to Be Healthier This Summer? Enter Your Company in This Contest

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We already know that Boston is a healthy city—we even won a gold medal for our commitment to wellness—but there’s always room for improvement.

This summer, an app called iRewardHealth is running a promotion that will help Bostonians live even healthier lives, and give back to the community in the process.

The Boston-based app works by awarding points for healthy behaviors—everything from eating right to meeting your daily step count—and then cashing those points in for real rewards. If a college uses the app, for example, students could win academic extra credit; if a company signs up, employees could get extra cash. The program even uses a proprietary algorithm that adapts to individual users’ preferences, coaxing them into making better decisions.

“All it takes are a few positive steps a day to make a powerful and lasting impact,” CEO Rick McCartney says in a statement.

This summer, that model will be applied to a city-wide contest. The three-month event, called Boston Rewards Health, runs June through early September. The goal of the promotion is three-fold: inspire some friendly competition, make Boston even healthier, and aid the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB).

To start, companies across Boston register their employees. Then, individuals log their behaviors all summer long, with the employers paying out rewards as they do. The app will sponsor special events, such as fitness and cooking classes, for participants along the way, helping them score even more points. Users may then elect to either deposit their rewards into a bank account, or donate them to the GBFB.

The healthiest companies will be crowned at the end of the participation period, but organizers say the competition element is secondary. Encouraging healthy behaviors is the focus, so employers can sign up at any point during the summer, just for fun.

Roughly 8,000 users are already confirmed. If your company wants to join the fray, contact iRewardHealth at irewardhealth.com or info@irewardhealth.com.

With reporting by Hallie Smith.