Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton on NBC
Nov. 28 (UPI) -- After meeting almost a decade ago entirely by chance, a grandmother in Arizona and the young stranger she now calls a friend will have Thanksgiving dinner virtually Thursday for the ninth year in a row.
Wanda Dench, who widely became known as "Thanksgiving Grandma," will join her friend Jamal Hinton remotely this year because of a recent battle with cancer.
The two first met entirely by chance in 2016 when Dench texted Hinton by mistake, informing him when Thanksgiving dinner would be served.
Hinton, then a 17-year-old high student at Desert Vista High School in Mesa, Ariz., replied and after discovering the mistake, asked if he could still attend dinner.
"Of course you can. That's what grandmas do... feed everyone," Dench texted back at the time.
The pair have been getting together every year since.
"Excited to announce that I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year for Wanda and I! Looking forward to a day filled with good food, great company, and lasting memories. Year 9 coming soon!," Hinton wrote on X, accompanied by photos of his family and Dench.
Dench, who lost her husband in 2020 to COVID-19, will remain home this year though after recently completing chemotherapy for breast cancer. The 65-year-old shared her diagnosis on X.
"I just recently finished up with chemotherapy, so I'm not 100% yet," she told CNN in a TV interview Thursday.
"And I live about two hours away from where Jamal lives. And so we decided that this year would be best for my health if I stayed at home."
