Stockmen’s Drug takes home top prize of $20,000 from SCORE’s virtual 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition
Stockmen’s Drug owner Helen Ianniello did not give herself much a chance to win. After all, it was a nationwide competition and there would be so many better ideas.
But a last minute change of heart and conversation with a friend propelled her forward and gave her the last bit of motivation to enter the contest.
This past week that decision paid off in a big way; $20,000 big.
Ianniello, along with her staff at Stockmen’s Drug in Gordon, took home the top prize from the SCORE virtual 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition.
Ianniello is a member of SCORE, which stands for Service Corps of Retired Executives, and has been utilizing their services to help her grow her Gordon Main Street business.
When the contest was brought to her attention, she waffled at the idea of filling out the application.
Ianniello dream was to use the contest monies for a Mobile Vaccine Program. This is an idea herself and Stockmen’s Drug Pharmacist Mike Cookston have been working on for some time.
“For a month, I kept logging and then would think we would not get it, so I would log out. I kept doing that for an entire month,” said Ianniello.
“On the final day though, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I went for it. I met with my good friend Valerie Beel and she helped me with the application. I submitted and then found out later that week we had made the next stage,” she added.
Ianniello did not have much time to relish in her advancement as a 2-3 minute video pitch was due in just 3 days.
Her and her staff put that together and she advanced once again.
Now the pressure was even higher as she had to deliver a live pitch to 4-5 judges for all the marbles.
For this round, there were only 20 individuals remaining from original 2,200 entires.
“I’ve never done public speaking and I do not want to get in front of people to talk,” she said.
But she did it and following the pitch, an emotional release was needed.
Her staff got to watch in live for the pitch and they met her after with praise of how well she delivered.
Stockmen’s was told that an email would be sent the following morning if they were chosen as one of the winners. So when 12:00 p.m. came around the following day, Ianniello figured that they had not be chosen.
But just 15 minutes later, she received an email stating they were in the top 3 and needed to be prepared for a live presentation of the winner in just an hour.
Ianniello settled in at her computer to await the final verdict.
“When they announced the third place winner and then the second place winner, I did not even realize that we were the final one left. My emotions were running so high. When I saw our name on the screen, I was like, oh my goodness, that’s me!” said Ianniello.
“I was excited about Helen winning and the opportunity to start a new program that no one in the area has done before,” said Cookston.
“Helen put a lot of work into it, she had some help from us in the background, but it was her idea. She has worked really hard to get it done and we are very proud of her,” he added.
So now the work begins.
Stockmen’s Drug will be using the proceeds from the contest to jump start their Mobile Vaccine Program.
The main goal of the program is provide access to businesses and individuals to receive vaccines at home or work.
“With this program, we can go into local businesses and vaccinate staff, we can go to schools, and we can go directly to people’s homes and vaccinate them on site so they do not have to worry about transportation,” said Ianniello.
Ianniello is a Registered Nurse which adds a wrinkle to this idea that can push it into success.
With her qualifications, a Pharmacist is not needed for the vaccine. That keeps Cookston at the Pharmacy while Ianniello can distribute vaccinations to those in need.
To begin with there will be five vaccines available through the program; RSV, COVID, Flu, Tetanus, and Shingles.
There is a lot of work still going on behind the scenes but Ianniello is hopeful that the program can be up and running by November.
Call Stockmen’s Drug and ask to speak with Helen about the Mobile Vaccine program if you are interested in learning more.
