The unlikely friendship between a grandma and a teen that captured the hearts of many is still going strong.
Wanda Dench accidentally texted Jamal Hinton around this time in 2016, thinking he was her grandson, to invite him over for Thanksgiving dinner. But the mistaken text resulted in a yearly tradition for the former strangers. Hinton, now 20, has spent every Thanksgiving with Dench, 62, and her family since.
But this friendship is more than a turkey tradition now. Hinton tells The Post he sees Dench “about once every two months,” despite the fact that they live in Arizona towns miles apart (Hinton currently lives in Phoenix and Dench is in Mesa).
“We’ve become really good friends,” he tells The Post. “Unfortunately, our schedules don’t usually line up too well and we live an hour and a half apart, but we have managed to have a couple dinners at her house and restaurants.”
Hinton says they frequently communicate through — you guessed it — text messaging to keep in touch.
“We text to check on each other,” he says, noting they plan to see each other even more often — including this holiday season. Last month, the two went to a pumpkin patch together, along with Dench’s husband, Lonnie, and Hinton’s girlfriend, Mikaela.
The heartwarming tale began in 2016 when Hinton, then 17 years old, received Dench’s text and let her know of her mistake. “You not my grandma,” he wrote and asked for a selfie of the random grandma to prove the mix-up.
After they exchanged photos, Hinton asked if he could “still get a plate” of food at her house. Dench invited him over for dinner anyway. “Of course you can,” Dench replied. “That’s what grandmas do … feed everyone.”
Hinton obliged. Their unlikely friendship immediately went viral thanks to a tweet from Hinton — “Somebody grandma is coming in clutch this year!! Ayee!!!” — which has over 127,000 likes.
Hinton joined Dench again for dinner in 2017, bringing girlfriend Mikaela with him. They carried on their tradition once again last Thanksgiving with both of their families. Of course, there are selfies to prove it.
For Thanksgiving this year, they “definitely” plan to spend time together, though their plans are still up in the air.
“We’re still figuring out when and where,” Hinton says, noting he’s currently in the middle of a move to Tempe with his girlfriend — their first apartment together.
“We actually move in the day before Thanksgiving,” says Hinton, who’s currently taking a semester off school to plan his career in the automotive industry. “If we can get the apartment moved in and set up in time who knows, maybe we could have a nice get together at our new place.”
The two can’t help but discuss their surprising union regularly. “We are both really passionate and love talking about our story and how many people have reached out to us and told us how it affects them,” he says.
“We are both very happy and grateful that we could be the centerpiece to such an amazing story and bring joy and faith in so many different people.”
Hinton says the best part about sharing their story is the genuine joy people seem to get when they hear about it.
“I love when people tell me it restores their faith in humanity which I get A LOT,” he says. “It makes me feel good knowing something I was a part of affected so many people in a good way.”