WooFood founders win community engagement award

Student venture helps Worcester restaurants offer healthy options

UMass Medical School students Matthew DeWolf, SOM ’13; Adam Chin, SOM 14; and Mitchell Li, SOM 13, have been honored for their development of the innovative WooFood program that they launched in 2010. In a ceremony on March 28, the team was presented with a 2012 Community Engagement Student Award by the Colleges of Worcester Consortium.

The COWC presents community engagement awards annually to an individual or a project team from each of the consortium schools for making “a substantial contribution to or [having] made a major impact on the community organization where the work was conducted.”

WooFood has a goal of empowering and promoting restaurants that encourage customers to make healthier choices by making simple changes. The WooFood philosophy is not to restrict choice, but to make the healthy choice the easy choice for Worcester residents. So far, three local restaurants have become WooFood certified, including the caterer for the awards ceremony, Flying Rhino Café and Watering Hole.

To learn more about the project, visit the WooFood website.

Related links on UMassMedNow:
Students help local restaurants create healthy options
MLK Semester of Service Student Awards support local health projects
Learn and Serve grant helps students make a difference