Grades for Grabs approaches the report card differently.
It becomes a reason to walk into a familiar neighborhood store and announce, with pride, that something improved.
When a Bodega Becomes Part of the Community
New York City bodegas and neighborhood delis are more than places to buy food.
For many residents, particularly in densely populated neighborhoods, they are everyday gathering places. Customers see the same workers repeatedly. Store employees watch children grow older. Families stop in on the way to school, work or home.
That familiarity is a major part of why Alselwi’s project resonates.
He is not an anonymous organization mailing children rewards.
He is standing behind the counter.
Students hand him their report cards personally. He reads the grades, reacts to their improvements and congratulates them face-to-face.
TODAY documented one high school student, Madison, returning to the deli after previously showing averages of 98 and 99. This time, she had reached 100. Alselwi celebrated the achievement, handed her cash and let her select snacks.
Those moments are deliberately public and joyful.
Instead of academic achievement remaining something visible only to teachers and family members, students get to experience the kind of excitement normally associated with athletic trophies, birthdays or other public accomplishments.
Alselwi has described the emotional reward for himself in equally simple terms. Speaking to TODAY, he said he enjoys seeing the children smile.
But the project has grown beyond snacks.
NBC Nightly News reported in June 2025 that what children chose from the store began changing over time. At first, many reached for typical treats such as chips and soda. Later, some started selecting practical household groceries. Alselwi recalled periods when students repeatedly chose items such as eggs, suggesting that the rewards were sometimes helping not only the children but also their families.
That detail gives Grades for Grabs a deeper dimension.
A student might walk into the deli because of a good report card and leave with a reward that contributes to dinner at home.
Academic motivation and neighborhood support begin overlapping.
From Staten Island to Social Media
The success of the original arrangement with Davies might have remained a small local story if Alselwi had not shared the moments online.
Social media changed the scale completely.
Videos showing excited students entering the deli with report cards began attracting enormous audiences. Children saw other children being recognized for school performance. Parents saw a business owner celebrating education. Viewers far outside Staten Island discovered the program.
The visibility attracted students from beyond the immediate neighborhood as well.
TODAY reported that children had traveled from places as far away as Pennsylvania to show Alselwi their grades.
By 2026, reporting described thousands of students participating over the life of the initiative. A Spokane Spokesman-Review report on the program said that groups of students from nearby schools regularly arrived at the Port Richmond store with report cards, while the initiative had reached thousands of young people during its first several years.
Alselwi’s social media presence helped transform an everyday neighborhood relationship into something much larger.
But popularity also created a practical problem.
Rewards cost money.
Paying for the Rewards
Initially, Alselwi financed the program himself.
Every free drink, snack, grocery item and cash prize represented something the store was giving away rather than selling.
That might be manageable when helping one student.