If there was ever a bonafide game show for the social media generation, Ahmed “Medy” Alwan’s #BodegaChallenge would be it.
The 22-year-old bodega store worker from Bronx, New York, has amassed an audience of hundreds of thousands across his social media pages after he began filming his customers responses to random trivia questions that, if they answered correctly, earned them a prize. These prizes could amount to having their groceries paid for, or getting a few seconds to grab whatever products they could to take home for free.
The challenge went viral not only because of customers' funny and emotional reactions, but also Alwan’s deep connection to his Bronx community and the relationship he shares with customers at Lucky Candy — something he says his father instilled in him at a young age.
“My dad would always talk,” Alwan tells PEOPLE of growing up around his family’s bodega. “He always loved when we talked to customers, and showed them love and respect. Ever since I was a kid, I was doing that, and we built a great relationship with each other.”
“Almost every customer that walks in, we would have a conversation or talk about each other, liven it up,” he adds.
On Alwan’sInstagrampage, he’s uploaded dozens of videos of customers taking on the #BodegaChallenge, with many being viewed tens of thousands of times. In one recentvideo, Alwan offered a young boy $20 and five seconds to grab whatever he wanted if he correctly calculated “20 x 5.” After taking a few seconds to think it over, the boy confidently says “a hundred,” and immediately runs through the store grabbing snacks.
“I think about questions I used to get asked at school when I was in elementary or middle school,” Alwan says of how he comes up with questions for his customers. “It’s mostly math, but I started switching them up a little bit more, like science, and other questions.”
Youssef Alwan
Alwan says theBrutdocumentary gave him the chance to shine a light on the importance of his family in his life — something that he believes his social media followers might not immediately recognize.
“My dad is what motivated me to do all this, to be honest,” he says of his father, who immigrated from Yemen and appears in the documentary. “This all came from him. I used to always see people come asking for food and stuff, and he doesn’t know how to stay no, whenever anybody really needs it. So he would always give, and that made me think about life.”
“I never knew it was going to be this far,” Alwan adds of his social media stardom. “I would always help my customers and everything, not even putting [it] on camera and all that. And it’s like, ‘Wow, I got this all from my dad.'”
Now Alwan hopes to use his social media reach to inspire others to do good within their community.
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“I want people to follow their dreams and follow their purpose,” Alwan says. “I want them to be able to help out in any way possible.”
“Some people might think I’m doing this for clout or everything,” he continues, “but I’m actually doing this because I really love to help, and I love to encourage people to do better as well.”
source: people.com
