They went viral for their Thanksgiving dinner eight years ago. Now they’re inviting you.
Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench met after a text to the wrong number in 2016. Now, you can join them for their Thanksgiving dinner through Airbnb.
Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench went viral in 2016 when an accidental Thanksgiving invitation resulted in an annual meal together. Now, they’re inviting lucky guests to join them through a new charity initiative with Airbnb.
It started when Hinton received a wrong-number text message with the details on Dench’s annual Thanksgiving family dinner. Dench thought she was texting her grandson and instead texted Hinton, who was 16 at the time.
“[You’re] not my grandma,” Hinton replied.
They exchanged selfies confirming as much. “Can I still get a plate tho?”
Dench responded, “That’s what grandmas do … feed everyone.”
The exchange became a piece of warm and fuzzy internet lore about an unlikely friendship.
And it gets rehashed each year when Hinton’s and Dench’s families reunite for another meal or for activities in between. Together, they’ve gotten tattoos, attended cookouts, shared meals, and celebrated Hinton as he’s entered into adulthood and a career. There’s also a Netflix film in the works inspired by their story.
“I literally look forward to this every year,” one Instagram user wrote on a past selfies. “The Thanksgiving tradition I never knew I needed,” said another.
The dinners have evolved over the years. Hinton began bringing his girlfriend and in 2020, Dench’s husband, Lonnie, died from complications related to COVID-19. That year, their Thanksgiving meal served as a memorial for him.
“Family is more than blood,” Dench told the Washington Post in 2019. “It’s the people you want to be with.”
This year, Hinton and Dench announced they’re partnering with Airbnb to have two guests join them for a meal and overnight stay at Dench’s home in Prescott, Ariz. The experience is only open to two guests and opened for booking at 1 p.m. Eastern.
It is priced at $16, a nod to the year the duo first met. Guests are expected to make and pay for their own travel arrangements. Airbnb is also making an undisclosed donation to Feeding America — the United States’ largest hunger relief organization — as part of the promotion.
According to the listing, the stay will include a seat at the Thanksgiving table (though the event is taking place Monday, Nov. 20), inclusion in board games, movie-watching, and “cozying up by the fire” with cider or hot cocoa, exchanging stories, and taking part in Dench and Hinton’s annual selfie.
» READ MORE: An accidental text friendship between Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench results in their 7th Thanksgiving together
In 2020, the pair hosted a paid raffle with winnings that included a PlayStation 5 and an invite to their Thanksgiving dinner. Hinton has also used his platform to promote his car-wrapping business.
“From year one as strangers to year seven as family, but now BUSINESS PARTNERS,” Hinton wrote in an Instagram caption last year where the pair promoted BlackMP alkaline water. They also appeared on The Cube game show earlier this year where they competed to win a cash prize.
It’s not the first time Airbnb has used influencers or celebrities to market a rare experience.
Earlier this year, celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow along with Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis listed their homes on the platform. And in September, Airbnb announced a similar charity-tied promotion where fans could book a stay at Shrek’s Swamp — it sold out instantly.