Rochester Business Alliance names winners in Eat Well, Live Well Challenge

via brightonpittsfordpost.com, June 22, 2011
By Dermot Connolly

Rochester, N.Y. — The winners of the Rochester Business Alliance’s first Eat Well, Live Well Challenge competition among local employers were named June 21. A total 51 businesses participated in the head-to-head competition.

The organizations competed in three categories: average steps walked, average cups of fruits and vegetables consumed and most creative plan to engage employees in the program.

“We were looking for a way to get new employers interested in the challenge and reinvigorate past participants. This seemed like a natural extension, playing off the competitive nature of businesses,” said Sandy Parker, president and CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance, in a statement.

All finalists received a framed certificate and the three winners received apple-shaped trophies.

In first place, with an average of 5.8 cups per person per day was Vnomics, of Henrietta, followed by runners-up Center for Dispute Settlement, Cryovac Sealed Air Corp., Harris Seeds and the Pittsford Federal Credit Union.

Coming in first with an average per participant of 11,221 steps per day was Ameritherm, Inc., of Scottsville, just outpacing Fairport Central’s Dudley Elementary School, Foodlink, Soleo Communications and Web Seal Inc.

Reliant Community Credit Union won the top award in the most creative program category for its Passport to Wellness program, which included sampling new fruits and weekly employee activities such as a “snowball fight” with marshmallows—-which was demonsrated at the news conference. The other finalists were Baldwin Richardson Foods, La Bella Associates, Paychex, and the Pittsford Federal Credit Union.

“Healthier, better lives are the objective of the Challenge. Behavior change is hard, but the Eat Well, Live Well Challenge provides support by co-workers in teams to make it easier,” said Mary Ellen Burris, senior vice president of consumer affairs at Wegmans, who judged the creative portion of the competition along with RBA President and CEO Sandy Parker and Dr. Cynthia Reddeck-LiDestri, director of wellness programs at LiDestri Foods.

Following the news conference, Wegmans donated more than 1,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to the Kids’ Café, a Foodlink program that provides after-school and summer meals to area children in need.

Other participating employers included: ACCES-VR; Allergy Asthma Immunology of Rochester; Apetz; Billitier Electric Inc.; Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester; Brockport Central – Ginther School; Canandaigua Family YMCA; Center for Disability Rights; City of Rochester; Genesee Regional Bank; Greece Central School District; Happiness House; HR Works; Huther-Doyle; Insero & Company CPAs, P. C.; Jones Memorial Hospital; LunchByte Systems, Inc.; Monroe County; Nixon Peabody LLP; Northstar Christian Academy; P.W. Minor & Son, Inc.; Pearce Memorial Church; RIT Inn & Conference Center; Rochester Business Journal; Rochester City Schools – Franklin Campus; Rochester Institute of Technology; Sentry Group; State University of New York at Brockport; The Eye Care Center; The Harley School; Town of Greece Library; Unity Health System; University of Rochester; UTC Retail; Verizon Wireless; Wyoming Central School District; and Xerox Corp.