Cheers to 2025!
A note from the President of the NCPA Foundation & the NCPA Foundation Executive Director
This has been an incredible year for the NCPA Foundation. First and foremost I would like to thank our search committee who worked very hard and found us an Executive Director beyond belief. Her name is Sonja Pagniano and in the short time she has been with us has resulted in monumental changes to how the Foundation operates. All for the positive.
It started with her obtaining a gift from Mark Cuban which helped us add two new programs (Mentorship and Pathways to Pharmacy Ownership). These two compliment programs we have supported for some time such as the Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Business Plan Competition and POLA.
This year the contributions to the foundation are up by over 30% and during the annual convention we were able to raise over $50,000 or so for disaster relief. This so far has translated into 14 grants to help community pharmacies impacted by hurricanes Helene and Milton. This is an area of our work that is extremely important to me personally.
My belief is that we do not do enough for these pharmacies that have been injured by disasters. This was the first convention that I felt that my pleas were heard, for that I am grateful.
I am looking forward to the years to come. We will be rolling out our new programs, educating our funders as to why we need the funds to continue our mission, and we are planning to restructure our DisposeMyMeds program to help independent community pharmacies and the people they serve dispose of their medications safely.
In conclusion, everyone can get involved with us whether it is through donations or volunteering to make the programs work more efficiently and successfully. Believe me when I say everyone’s help is wanted to make the pharmacy profession even better for the future.
Sincerely,
Jerry Shapiro, NCPA Foundation Board President
Here’s to 2025
Cheers to nimbleness, resilience, and collaboration!
Wow. What a year it has been! When I joined in April I would not have guessed that we could accomplish so much in just a short period of time. Earlier this month, NCPA Foundation staff enjoyed being a part of supporting NCPA’s partnership with the Department of Community and Human Services in Alexandria, Va., with the Holiday Sharing Program. This year, our staff participated with NCPA in collecting 87 presents and $900 in grocery store gift cards for a mother and her six children.
As I reflect on the year and watching the nation begin to acknowledge the enormous challenges we face within our healthcare system and the real threat these challenges pose on independent community pharmacies and healthcare access across the country, I can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Our collective voices are achieving an awakening among our friends and neighbors. There is hope for change on the horizon. Our work is truly making a difference.
As I look to the countless pharmacists, pharmacy owners, and up and coming pharmacy professionals I see nothing but relentless optimism for the independent community pharmacy profession. Something struck me recently that I thought I’d share with you:
While creativity is often associated with inspiration and positive environments, there is a compelling argument that adversity, rather than hindering creative endeavors, serves as a catalyst for innovation and imaginative thinking. This challenges the conventional belief that creativity flourishes exclusively in comfort and ease. Instead, it suggests that the crucible of challenges, setbacks, and adversity cultivates a fertile ground for the seeds of creativity to grow and flourish. I feel the same way about the enormous challenges being faced among independent community pharmacies today.
The countless challenges, setbacks, and adversity felt by the independent community pharmacy profession are now resulting in the flourishing of millions of seeds that were planted through those trying times and are now ripe to grow into something incredible and life-changing for the patients within these communities to benefit from. But that’s not say it won’t take more time to make up for the damage that’s been done.
We are grateful to serve as a source of hope and inspiration in trying times for the independent pharmacy community.
Earlier this summer we launched our mentorship program, in the hopes that we could serve as that bridge that aspiring and struggling pharmacy owners need to spark connection to resources and ideas that they might not otherwise have the chance to forge.
Additionally, we adopted NCPA’s Pathways to Pharmacy Ownership program a few months ago, to provide ownership development for individuals belonging to historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. We are excited to announce the 2025 cohort members in this newsletter and help support their pathway to pharmacy ownership.
As we look to 2025, we are excited to leverage our nimbleness and resilience for more collaboration with partners who are looking to do creative and impactful work for independent community pharmacy.
We hope you’ll join us with courage, resilience, and creativity as we embark on this next step in our journey.
For independent community pharmacy, forever,
Sonja
Save The Date for NCPA’s Congressional Pharmacy Fly-In!
April 30, 2025 – May 1, 2025
Registration opens in January 2025
Learn more at ncpa.org/flyin
NCPA Foundation is proud to support scholarships for students to attend the NCPA Fly-In!
Announcing the 2025 Cohort for the Pathways to Pharmacy Ownership Program
Congratulations to all!
Special thanks to our program’s supporter, MPECrx for helping with the applicant selection process! MPECrx is the Minority Pharmacist Entrepreneur Collaborative, since 2020, their conference has been a leading platform, empowering minority pharmacists and student pharmacists to amplify their impact through business ownership. The following applicants have been accepted into the program:
Jean Lee, Palisades Park, NJ
Viet Nguyen, Charlottesville, VA
Kamille Buck, St. Louis, MO
Chantel Farmer, Towson, MD
Eugene Awuah, Modesto, CA
Joe Muroka, Orlando, FL
Naimah Shuayb, Chicago, IL
John Agyemang, Sicklerville, NJ
Sabrina Russ, Columbia, SC
Kenneth Senelorm, Orange, NJ
Aviance Lewis, Suffolk, VA
Sara Eldib, Shrewsbury, MA
Marwa Kassem, Clovis, CA
Tanyifor Tohnya, Wake Forest, NC
