It becomes much harder when dozens, hundreds and eventually thousands want to participate.
As online viewers repeatedly asked how they could help, a fundraising campaign was established to support Grades for Grabs.
The GoFundMe campaign, organized under Alselwi’s name, explains the mission directly: reward students for academic work, provide snacks and cash prizes, and encourage children to believe that persistence can produce tangible results.
The fundraiser says the money helps provide free snacks for students who improve their grades, cash prizes designed to motivate academic achievement and broader support for the community initiative.
The response was extraordinary.
By early 2026, reporting indicated that donations had already exceeded $400,000.
By September 2026, reports placed the total above half a million dollars.
And by late September, the figure had crossed another major threshold.
As of early October 2026, the official GoFundMe page showed more than $608,000 raised toward a $650,000 goal, supported by approximately 13,100 donations.
That number illustrates how radically the project changed.
What began with the cost of an Oreo milkshake eventually inspired strangers to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The money represents far more than free food.
Each donation is effectively another person saying that encouraging children to take pride in school is worth supporting.
Why Small Rewards Can Feel So Big
Critics of incentive programs sometimes raise an understandable question: Should children need cash or snacks to care about their education?
Ideally, education carries its own long-term value.
Strong academic skills can expand career opportunities, increase confidence and help students understand the world around them. A child cannot rely forever on receiving money every time a grade improves.
But that is not necessarily what Grades for Grabs is trying to teach.
The reward creates a short-term spark.
The deeper experience comes from proving to yourself that improvement is possible.
That appears to be what happened in the original case with Davies.
The milkshake was the incentive, but the student still had to attend class, complete assignments, study and raise his grades. Alselwi could provide the reward, but he could not do the schoolwork for him.
Davies’s uncle told TODAY that although his nephew appreciated the rewards, the motivation to improve ultimately came from within the student himself.
That distinction is crucial.
External encouragement can begin a process. Internal confidence may sustain it.
A child who improves from 68 to 80 learns something much more important than the value of a $100 bill. The child discovers that a disappointing grade is not necessarily permanent.
Effort can change the outcome.
And once a young person experiences that connection directly, it can influence far more than one report card.
Celebrating Improvement, Not Just Perfection
Another reason the initiative has attracted attention is its emphasis on progress.
Reward programs built only around perfect scores tend to favor students who are already academically successful.
A student earning a 95 might receive praise for moving to 97, while another who struggles from a 55 to a 75 could be overlooked despite making a much larger improvement.