Ahmed Alwan, a college student, started the game at the Lucky Candy deli to help people in the neighborhood focus on paying rent and utilities.
Not very often do people do good things just because they can. After all, it’s hard to think about other people when you’re busy with your own work. But when it does happen, it’s really heartwarming. A cashier at a deli in New York City wanted to share his good fortune, so he let customers take food home for free. There is, however, a small catch. CNN says that before they can get free stuff, they have to answer a simple math question correctly. It turns out that learning math in this day and age of calculators can be helpful.
The Lucky Candy deli is in the Bronx, which is one of New York City’s five boroughs. The store’s cashier, Ahmed Alwan, came up with the clever plan. Alwan is a 20-year-old college student who is well-known to all the regular customers at the store. This isn’t just because he has a big smile and a lot of energy. About two weeks ago, he showed shoppers his game, which was a big hit. His little game is easy to understand. He calls out a simple math question, like one you might have been asked in middle school, and you have one chance to answer it. If you get it right, you have five seconds to run around the store and get whatever you want. Anything you grab and put on the cash register before the timer runs out is yours to keep for free. You can take everything else, but you can’t take his cat. Yes, before you ask, someone has tried to do that.
He told CNN why he came up with the game in an interview. Alwan said, “All I wanted to do was help people.” “But I did want it to be fun. So I made a TikTok and chose a challenge, which was to ask them a math question. It’s a way to have fun and teach people who are in need, all while making them smile.” Since he started the challenge, he’s been posting videos on Instagram. Very quickly, he became a big deal on the internet. On TikTok, he has 300,000 fans, and on Instagram, he has 17,000. But he didn’t start the challenge to become famous; he’s been giving back for a long time. Alwan doesn’t care about being famous.
Everything the college student buys comes out of his own money. He really wants to help low-income people save money for rent and utilities, which are higher priority bills. Alwan’s father, Saleh Aobad, who owns the store, said he is very proud of his son. “It’s great to see see him do good things and help the community, but most of all, it’s great to see him represent Islam,” he said.”This changed our relationship with the community big time. They’re all showing me so much love and lining up at the store just for a chance to play. We have so many visitors coming to take pictures and say hi. But it’s not about me. It’s about the community.” Alwan has started a GoFundMe to raise money so he can keep playing the challenge, which is so popular. Here is where you can give to it.