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JACKSON, Ohio — Score one for the little guys.

Rio Grande resident Michael Brace was recently named one of 10 winners of one million rewards points in a national contest held by Walgreens during the month of September.

Brace — the Gallia Academy District Technology Coordinator — was presented his award of One Million Balance Rewards Points on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at the Walgreens store located in Jackson. Brace was presented his prize by Walgreens District Manager Colby Fries and Jackson Walgreens Store Manager Gene Foster.

Customers who enrolled online in Walgreens new customer loyalty program between September 6-15 had a chance to enter into the 10 Million Point Giveaway contest that would be split between 10 random entries. Each winner would then be able to redeem his or her points for thousands of products in any Walgreens store.

Brace noted that he is a loyal shopper at the Jackson Walgreens, usually going once a week. He also said that the odds of winning were very similar to the lottery, but he also didn’t really expect anything to come of this entry.

“I signed up for the contest and really didn’t think much more about it,” Brace said. “About three weeks later, I get an email from a PR company wanting my information. Honestly, it looked like a spam email, but I’ve never received a spam email from Walgreens.

“Being an IT Coordinator, I took some time to read it over and do some research online. I’m a loyal Walgreens shopper, so I called the Walgreens corporate office to talk with them about the email. They confirmed it was legitimate, and I was pretty much speechless at that point.”

Brace says his wife, Kathy, will probably receive a lot of the bonus rewards, as well as his two daughters coming up in school. Their oldest daughter, Michaelyn, is a junior at GAHS and Malayna is a seventh-grader at GAMS.

Brace, however, also believes that his family isn’t the only one making out well in this deal.

“The wife and kids will probably enjoy all the makeup and other perks that we can get there with this,” Brace said. “It’s also a really good thing for Walgreens. The little guy from Rio Grande goes to the Jackson store and receives a national prize, proving that these things don’t just happen in big cities.”

Brace, an avid supporter of Gallia Academy athletics over the years, also liked making this trip to the Apple City — the Blue Devils’ archrival. GAHS hosts Jackson this week in football for an outright SEOAL title.

“It’s kind of comical. I’ve made a few nice trips to Jackson on a couple of Friday nights, and there have also been a few bad trips on Friday nights,” Brace said with a laugh. “This was honestly one of the best trips I’ve ever made to Jackson.”