{"id":339455,"date":"2026-09-06T17:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/339455\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:36:19","slug":"staten-island-deli-owner-goes-viral-for-rewarding-cash-snacks-to-kids-with-good-grades-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/339455\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island deli owner goes viral for rewarding cash, snacks to kids with good grades"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/northeast\/new-york\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Staten Island<\/a> deli owner is turning good grades into cash and free snacks, rewarding local kids for strong report cards and academic progress.<\/p>\n<p>Zack\u2019s Finest Deli &amp; Grocery co-owner and manager Wail Alselwi, widely known by his nickname \u201cIsland Ock,\u201d said his Grades for Grabs initiative evolved from a simple bet with one local student.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt started with one report card, one kid and one milkshake. Just like that. I had a bet with a kid named Zameir Davis that if he had good grades, he can get to grab whatever he wanted,\u201d Alselwi said Saturday on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/shows\/fox-friends-weekend\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">\u201cFox &amp; Friends Weekend.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/media\/detroit-schools-offer-students-up-1000-perfect-attendance-program-expands\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">DETROIT SCHOOLS OFFER STUDENTS UP TO $1,000 FOR PERFECT ATTENDANCE AS PROGRAM EXPANDS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, it\u2019s a big movement. Now, thousands of kids come into Zack\u2019s Finest Deli to show me their report card.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Students with high marks can walk out with up to $100 in cash, along with snacks and <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/deals\/school-supplies-worth-paying-more-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">school supplies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past three years, the program has gained attention on social media, with some videos drawing millions of views.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/media\/viral-florida-police-video-turns-heads-online-genius-strategy-win-community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">FLORIDA POLICE DEPARTMENT GOES VIRAL WITH GENIUS STRATEGY TO CONNECT WITH COMMUNITY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Clips posted online highlight young people\u2019s academic accomplishments and show students and their parents talking about what the program means to them. Supporters across the country have also contributed money through a GoFundMe to help keep the program going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMan, I want to take the program [to] the next level. Like, I [want to] take it into every city in [the] United States, not just to keep it here in New York,\u201d Alselwi said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/media\/raising-americas-children-mentor-warns-kids-seeking-role-models-online-communities-fade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">WHO IS RAISING AMERICA\u2019S CHILDREN? MENTOR WARNS KIDS ARE SEEKING ROLE MODELS ONLINE AS COMMUNITIES FADE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir parents want them to participate in this program. They believe in it. [They\u2019re] bringing them from different states. Even Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The GoFundMe for the initiative has raised more than $575,000 toward its $650,000 goal.<\/p>\n<p>Alselwi said he started the program during a dark time in his life and credited his brother with motivating him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause at a time in my life, I was really down. And my brother motivated me to get back up,\u201d Alselwi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Staten Island deli owner is turning good grades into cash and free snacks, rewarding local kids for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-339455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}