‘Genuine Friendship’: Thanksgiving Tradition Continues as Black Man, White Grandmother Celebrate Year 9 of Unlikely Holiday Bond Despite Woman’s Recent Cancer Diagnosis

A mistaken text message turned heartwarming tradition is back for its ninth year, reuniting a Black man with a white grandmother who accidentally invited him to Thanksgiving in 2016, leading to an annual holiday gathering that has since turned the unlikely friends into a national treasure. Wanda Dench, 67, and Jamal Hinton, 26, plan to kick off another holiday season together on Thursday after spending Thanksgiving at Dench’s home in Prescott, Arizona, for the past eight years, beginning when the former strangers met in a mistaken text exchange. Wanda Dench, 67, and Jamal Hinton, 26, have been spending Thanksgiving together for nine years. (Photos: Instagram/jamalhinton12) Their unexpected friendship has since become the annual Thanksgiving tradition the country never knew it needed — a rare feel-good story about connection and community, one that transcends racial and political divides while highlighting the true spirit of the holiday, ultimately proving that a single wrong number can create a lifelong bond. Ahead of this year’s holiday, Hinton took to Instagram to share an uplifting post, showcasing a collage of photos capturing his ongoing friendship with Dench. In the caption, he wrote, “Excited to announce that I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year for Wanda and I!...