Man to join stranger’s Thanksgiving dinner for sixth year in a row after accidental invite

A man who went viral after accidentally being invited to a family’s Thanksgiving dinner is due to celebrate the holiday with them for the sixth year in a row.

Jamal Hinton, 22, from Arizona, US received a text from an unknown number in 2016, inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner.

The text from 64-year-old grandmother, Wanda Dench, was meant to be for her grandson but he had changed his number, meaning the text went to Hinton instead.

After some initial confusion, the pair sent selfies to each other which confirmed the mix-up.

But, when Hinton asked Dench if he could still come over to celebrate the holiday, Dench replied: "Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do … feed everyone”.

Since their first conversation in 2016, Hinton has joined Dench and her family for Thanksgiving every year.

On November 14, Hinton tweeted: “We are all set for year 6!” accompanied by a turkey emoji and his text conversation with Dench, who he has saved as “Grandma Wanda”.

He also tweeted a picture of himself, Dench, his partner Mikaela and Dench’s late husband, Lonnie, who died with Covid-19 in April last year.

Last Thanksgiving, Hinton, Dench and Mikaela still celebrated Thanksgiving together – and honoured Lonnie by holding up a photo of him in their annual selfie.

Their friendship has brought joy to Twitter users all around the globe, who have shared their responses in the lead up to year six.

On their Thanksgiving tradition, Hinton told People in 2016: “It was so unexpected, but she was just so sweet about it. It was a reminder that there are still some good people left in this world.”

He said of Dench: “She is a very sweet lady, she told me her husband was a veteran and she always invited his friends over for dinner, so she’s used to having a lot of people over. I just got a vibe from her that made me feel at home.”

We are definitely looking forward to seeing more from Hinton and Dench’s upcoming, annual Thanksgiving celebration.