Woman Shares Thanksgiving With Teen She Accidentally Invited
MESA, Ariz. (CBS/AP) — An Arizona woman who accidentally texted a stranger an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner made good on her offer after it spread through social media and attracted widespread media attention.
The Arizona Republic reports that Wanda Dench greeted 17-year-old Jamal Hinton with a hug before they sat down for dinner Thursday at her suburban Phoenix home.
The mix-up happened after Dench included what she thought was her grandson's number on a group text last week. But he had changed his number and forgot to tell her.
Instead, the text went to Hinton. They realized the mistake after the exchanging pictures. Hinton asked if he could "still get a plate." Dench responded, "Of course you can. That's what grandmas do."
"Indeed it was not my grandma, as we all know now, and I sent one back so she could confirm that I'm not her grandson and I thought why not ask for a plate jokingly, and she was very welcoming and let me in," said Hinton.
The online reaction was overwhelmingly supportive of making the Thanksgiving dinner happen.
Stove Top Stuffing even provided Dench with a year's worth of stuffing.
"This has really touched my heart, from all the people out there that have said the kindest things to me. I never expected this in a million years to happen to me," said Dench in response to the media attention.
Dench's family was supportive as well.
"I had no idea this was going to happen. I was just embarrassed that I sent a picture to a total stranger," she said.
Hinton's family wasn't able to attend due to a scheduling conflict -- and he admits he almost didn't make it either.
"I'm not going to lie, I did think about not coming...because our families scheduled for the same exact time," he said.
But he figured two turkey dinners are better than one -- especially because Dench was so welcoming.
"There are more nice people out in the world than I thought there were," said Hinton.
Both say they got a lot to be grateful for this year.
