Finding the time to exercise can be difficult — especially for the busy mom who is more focused on the health of her children than herself. Personally, I happily accept any incentives to take the time to workout so I was excited to come across Vizer, an app that encourages users to live healthier lives then in turn donates means to American families in needed.
Founded in San Diego in 2019, Vizer is a free app that converts daily steps into donated meals for families who face economic and food insecurity across the country. Users can unlock their daily donation by walking 10,000 steps or engaging in 30 minutes of activity each day.
How does it work? Vizer partners with brands committed to changing the hunger landscape in U.S. In exchange for sponsoring meals, Vizer highlights the brands on the platform each time a Vizer user completes their goal and donates a meal in the app.
Samantha Pantazopoulos, co-founder of Vizer, said she created the app with Dylan Barbour because of her fundamental belief that people do want to live well.
“Vizer helps you find daily motivation to move by converting your exercise into impact and health-forward rewards,” Pantazopoulos said. “On the fitness side, this incentivizes preventative movement, helping people build long-term healthful habits, and on the nutrition side, this increases access to healthy food, helping people achieve adequate nutrition.”
Since its launch three years ago, Pantazopoulos said Vizer has converted millions of workouts into meal donations.
“Each conversion creates a symbiotic impact,” she said. “It supports the family of the exerciser, who is modeling health forward behaviors and creating a wellness-oriented environment, as well as the recipient of the meal, who is equipped with foundational resources to develop a healthier lifestyle.”
More importantly, it aims to address a major problem in the U.S. — food insecurity. The USDA estimates that 10.2% (or 13.5 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2021.
“Food insecurity impacts children, seniors, veterans, active-duty military, homeless populations, and members of our workforce,” Pantazopoulos said. “Inadequate access to nutrition impacts every aspect of our lives – from mental health, to economic opportunity, to behavior.”
Through Nov. 21, Vizer users who donate five or more meals will be entered to win a prize from a Vizer partner, including Bulletproof, SowGood, Keto Krisp, Voss, Mantra Labs and Clearstem skincare.
Here’s how to sign up.
- Download Vizer
- Create an account
- On the home screen, select “Join A Team”
- Ender Code: GIVINGSZN
For more information, go to vizerapp.com.
San Diego Moms is published every Saturday. Have a story idea? Email hoaq@timesofsandiego.com and follow her on Instagram at @hoawritessd.