Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench went viral in 2016 when Dench accidentally texted Hinton, instead of her grandson, to invite him to Thanksgiving.
Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench went viral in 2016 when Dench accidentally texted Hinton, instead of her grandson, to invite him to Thanksgiving.
Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench went viral in 2016 when Dench accidentally texted Hinton, instead of her grandson, to invite him to Thanksgiving.

It was the accidental text message seen around the internet.

“Thanksgiving dinner is at my house on Nov. 24 at 3:00pm. Let me know if you’re coming,” wrote the sender to her grandson – or so she thought.

“You not my grandma. Can I still get a plate tho?” replied the 17-year-old stranger on the receiving end, alongside a photo of himself.

“Of course you can. That’s what grandma’s do...feed every one (sic),” said the grandma, who didn’t know her grandson’s phone number had recently changed.

Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton didn’t know it then, but that fateful exchange in November 2016 would lead to a decade of holidays together, a lasting friendship and a story of compassion that would continue to grip the internet years later.

Those familiar with this story know, of course, that after Hinton posted a screenshot of the accidental text message on the social media platform then known as Twitter, it went mega viral. The pair did, in fact, celebrate that Thanksgiving – and each one since – together.

But in a world where attention spans are shrinking and social media virality is short-lived, Dench and Hinton’s story still recirculates each holiday season. Ten Thanksgivings later, the pair’s announcement earlier this month that their annual holiday meal will be sponsored by Green Giant garnered millions of views on X.

“This has been a family gathering that I look forward to every year,” one person said in response.

Hinton and Dench embrace the fact that their Thanksgiving plans are an annual point of national interest.

“It's just a story that I think people love to see because they have to be reminded every day that there are still good people in the world,” said Hinton in a joint video interview with Dench and USA TODAY on Nov. 19.

Hope during the holidays

Both Dench and Hinton, who live about two hours apart from each other in Arizona, didn’t expect their story would still resonate with people nine years and ten Thanksgivings later.

Dench, who is now 68, remembers reading the comments on social media that first year – people said the story was proof of the good in humanity, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. But she never thought it would be more than 15 minutes of fame.

“I didn't think the media was going to keep following us every year. That's what has surprised me, because I thought people would be really tired of hearing our story,” Dench said.

Part of the reason why social media continues to embrace Dench and Hinton’s friendship could be because the internet has an infinite memory, said Ari Lightman, a professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University.

“We might have seen the story, but other folks have not been exposed to the story, and it creates conversation. It creates a moment of maybe some sense of humanity and civility in a time when everything is polarized, and things look relatively bleak,” Lightman told USA TODAY. “And one of the things that we want to connect with during the holidays is stories of joy and hope.”

While social media can be divisive, the holiday season is, in particular, a time of heightened compassion, Lightman said.

“The holidays are designed to bring us together,” Lightman said.

Quan Xie, associate professor of digital advertising at Southern Methodist University, also cited the holiday season as a factor in the story's popularity.

“When we are reading this story, it's all about connection, about making us feel warmth, gratitude and hopeful. So those are the emotions which are highly aligned with this particular time of the year,” Xie said.

In general, for other social media users, sharing an uplifting story like this one is also an easy way to represent altruistic values, Xie said.

“When we are sharing content online, especially a story like this, it's kind of like aspirational sharing, which means that sharing action we had represents kind of who we want to be and the world we want to live in,” Xie said.

Still, Dench and Hinton emphasized that the popularity of their story on social media had no bearing on their friendship.

“I always knew that me and Wanda would be connected no matter what, even if the media wasn't there,” Hinton said.

Thanksgiving No. 10

Over the years, Hinton and Dench’s Thanksgivings – and lives – have taken on different forms.

Dench, who is now healthy after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024, wasn’t well enough to travel for Thanksgiving last year, so the pair opted for a joint Instagram Live.

And in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they kept their gathering small. That year, Dench’s husband Lonnie, who was always an ardent supporter of the friendship, died.

Hinton, who’s now 26 and works in sales, is hosting this year for his and Dench’s tenth Thanksgiving together.

They partnered with Green Giant, who is catering the day for them.

“(Hinton) got out of cooking somehow again,” Dench quipped about the partnership.

They plan on eating good food, playing games and enjoying each other’s company, Hinton said. It’s not the first time and certainly won’t be the last, if they have any say.

“Me and Wanda, we didn't know each other from our left hand to our right hand, but we came together on what is my favorite holiday to have dinner together,” Hinton said. “And then we became good friends and then best friends and then family members after that.”

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at melina.khan@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A grandma invited a stranger to Thanksgiving. A decade later, we still eat the story up.

Reporting by Melina Khan, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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