The Staten Island Deli Owner Turning Good Grades Into Cash, Snacks, and a Community Movement

In a small neighborhood deli on Staten Island, report cards have become something worth celebrating.

Instead of being handed quietly to parents at the kitchen table, they are carried proudly through the doors of Zack’s Finest Deli & Grocery, where students can exchange evidence of their hard work for something unexpected: free snacks, cash, school supplies, and, perhaps most importantly, a public moment of encouragement.

At the center of the idea is Wail Alselwi, a co-owner and manager of the Staten Island deli who is better known online as “Island Ock.”

What began as a simple promise to one student has grown into a community initiative known as “Grades for Grabs.” Over the past several years, thousands of students have reportedly taken part, while videos of the encounters have spread widely across social media.

And what makes the story particularly remarkable is what happened next.

People who had never met Alselwi began asking how they could help.

A GoFundMe campaign created to support the initiative has now surpassed $600,000, with more than 13,000 donations listed on the campaign page. The money is intended to help Alselwi continue providing rewards to students and expand the effort beyond what he could personally afford.

A neighborhood deli has, unexpectedly, become a place where children are reminded that someone is paying attention to their effort.

It Started With One Student and a Simple Promise

The story of Grades for Grabs reportedly began in 2023 with a student named Zameir Davis.

According to Alselwi, he made a friendly deal with the young student: if Davis came back with better grades, he could choose something from the store. The original reward was simple—a milkshake and the opportunity to pick something he wanted.

Davis did exactly what Alselwi had hoped.

His grades improved, and he eventually made the honor roll. Alselwi kept his promise.

The moment was filmed and shared online, and the response was much larger than either of them expected. NBC News reported in 2025 that the interaction helped inspire more students to bring their own report cards into the deli.

Soon, the one-time promise became a recurring tradition.

Children began arriving with report cards in hand.

Some had excellent grades.

Others had improved dramatically from where they had started.

And that distinction became an important part of the philosophy behind the program.

Grades for Grabs was not simply about rewarding children who were already at the top of their class. Improvement mattered, too.

That meant a student struggling academically could still have something to celebrate.

A child who raised a difficult subject from a failing grade to a passing grade could walk into the store and hear the same basic message as a student with straight A's:

Your effort matters.

From a Neighborhood Deli to a Viral Phenomenon

The setting makes the story especially unusual.

Zack’s Finest Deli & Grocery is not a school, tutoring center or nonprofit organization. It is a neighborhood store—the kind of place people visit for food, drinks, snacks and everyday necessities.

Yet Alselwi turned the familiar environment of a corner deli into an informal celebration space for students.

Videos posted online show young people presenting their grades, receiving congratulations and choosing their rewards.

The format is simple, highly visual and easy for people to understand.

A child works hard.

The child brings proof of that effort.

An adult notices.

The child receives recognition.

Then the moment is shared with a wider community.

The social-media element helped transform a local experiment into something much larger.

By 2026, national outlets including ABC News and Fox News were reporting on the initiative, while videos associated with Alselwi's online presence had reached large audiences. ABC News reported in August 2026 that the fundraising effort had grown from about $70,000 the previous summer to more than $500,000.

The story was no longer simply about a deli owner giving away snacks.

It had become a story about how one small act of encouragement can attract attention from people far beyond the neighborhood where it began.

What Do Students Actually Receive?

The rewards vary depending on the student's performance or improvement.

Reports about the program describe students receiving free food and snacks, school supplies and cash prizes. Students with particularly strong grades have reportedly been able to receive as much as $100, while students who demonstrate meaningful academic improvement can also qualify for rewards.

The program's approach is significant because it does not appear to define success exclusively as having the highest possible grade.

That matters.

For a child already earning excellent marks, getting a little extra recognition can be fun.

But for a student who has been struggling, improvement can represent something much more personal.

Moving from a failing grade to a passing grade may require persistence, better study habits, more support from teachers, or simply the confidence to keep trying after previous setbacks.

In that sense, the reward is not necessarily about the dollar value of the prize.

It is about making progress visible.

A report card can normally feel like a judgment.

Grades for Grabs turns it into a conversation.

Instead of asking only, “What did you get?”

the interaction can become:

“How much did you improve?”

That is a very different message for a child.