From Viral Texts To Thanksgiving Legends: Jamal Hinton & Wanda Dench Celebrate A Decade Together

It’s a milestone Thanksgiving for internet icons Jamal Hinton and “Thanksgiving Grandma” Wanda Dench! 

This year marks ten years since their accidental text turned into a heartwarming holiday tradition, and they’re celebrating in a big way. Green Giant is joining the duo this year to host their Thanksgiving feast as the brand rings in its own 100th anniversary. The table will be filled with laughs, love, and their favorite dishes made with Green Giant canned veggies, a perfect pairing for a celebration that proves friendship (and good food) never go out of style. 

Hinton and Dench had some time before gearing up for another epic Thanksgiving dinner to sit down with The Blast to talk about this year’s special dinner, how it all began, and a little reminiscing about the past decade of memories. 

It was 10 years ago that Hinton, just 17-years-old at the time, got a text from someone claiming to be his grandmother. Instead of just ignoring it, he was called to respond. That simple text has turned into 10 years of friendship, family, and iconic Thanksgiving dinners. 

“I remember it like it was yesterday, actually. I was at work and I was texting two of my grandsons and I just said, ‘Hey, you know, Thanksgiving is going to be at my house this year. Bring your significant others with you,’” Dench shared with The Blast exclusively. “Shortly after, I get this text, ‘Who is this?’ And I say, ‘It’s your grandma.’”

Dench was thinking that they should know her phone number by now, but then the next text was asking her to send a photo. She said she couldn’t figure out why her grandkids were asking for her picture, but she did what was asked. 

“I almost did a goofy face, because it was my grandson; I thought it was my grandson,” she continued. “I thought, nah, they’ll just share it with their friends and I’ll be the laughing stock, so I won’t do a goofy face. I just thought it was so weird. And then I get a picture back.” 

When Dench got a photo back, she realized she texted the wrong phone number. 

“Jamal took his picture and says, ‘You ain’t my grandma, but can I have a plate?,’” Dench shared. “For a second, I was so embarrassed. And I was like, oh my gosh, what did I do? And I thought, I should just delete this because you know, I messed up, but I took a breath and I thought for a second and said, no what would I normally do? And I invited him. I said, ‘Hey, come on over. That’s what grandmas do. We feed everyone.’”

She could tell by the photo that he was just a teenager and didn’t think he would actually go to dinner. Her invitation was very sincere, so he decided to take her up on her offer.

“And it’s been great ever since,” she said. “So blessed. So lucky.” 

For Hinton at such a young age, he said the drive over to Dench’s house was a bit of a “roller coaster” but his personality is “no fear.”

“I like to meet everyone. I like to talk to anyone. And I become friends with anyone, but it was a roller coaster going to her house because it was a 45-minute drive away from my house and there were barely street lights so me driving alone as a 17 year old a dark 45 minutes away, it was like a horror movie,” Hinton said. “I don’t know where I’m going, I’m alone, I had lost service on my phone, I’m bad with directions, so I’m like this is great.” 

He said that the one thing that kept him cool was thinking he was just going to go there to meet Dench and there would be news media there to capture the interaction, so it should all be great.

“If she was some crazy killer, I don’t think she would kill me and the news people together, so I think we’d be safe,” he said with a laugh. “I think I can outrun her. I think I have a chance to run, so it was a roller coaster, but the moment she opened the door, all that stress went away.” 

When asked if he felt like it was all fate the way it fell into place, Hinton said, “I believe so.” He explained that he used to get wrong texts often and didn’t respond to 99 percent of them.

“It was weird that with Wanda’s text, I actually dug into it a little deeper and asked who is this,” he shared. “And then this was our outcome, so I personally feel like it is fate for it to happen.”

To celebrate the 10th Thanksgiving together, Dench and Hinton are partnering with Green Giant, who just happens to also be celebrating their own huge milestone - their 100th anniversary. 

Green Giant is hosting Dench and Hinton’s 10th Thanksgiving together, complete with some holiday favorite recipes made with Green Giant canned vegetables. 

For Green Giant, it all started back in 1925 in Minnesota’s lush River Valley. The brand’s name was inspired by its first big hit - the “Green Giant Great Big Tender Peas.” It has since grown into a household favorite every day of the year. 

What better way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Green Giant than to merge with the 10th anniversary of the heartwarming wrong Thanksgiving text? So that’s just what the brand and family are doing. And Dench is even going to make something she’s never made before for this holiday meal.

“It's so funny, as I've always gone to other people's houses and they make green bean casserole,” Dench said. “I've never made one, so I'm going to make one, and I'm going to find the best recipe I can, and with the Green Giant green beans, I'm going to make a green bean casserole.” 

While every year together is special, this year is a milestone year for Dench and Hinton. For their 10th Thanksgiving together, they'll be celebrating with Hinton's family at his aunt's home in Arizona and their special guest will be Green Giant.

"Green Giant is graciously going to cater our Thanksgiving at his [Jamal's] aunt's house," Dench said. "And I was like, I'm all for it."

Hinton added, "The other great part about it is Wanda hasn't gotten to sit down with my family yet over the years. We've had the first couple years at her house. The first year was just me. It's almost like the perfect year, especially for us being on year 10 for her to really sit down with my whole family."

When asked what they are thankful for this year, they both agreed that it's family and loved ones.

"And family doesn't mean blood. It means the people who care about you and you care about them," Dench said. "I've always heard other people quote this, 'good food and good company is all you need.' It's the best."

Hinton said he "doubles down" on that thought and shared how his life has changed since becoming a youth basketball coach.

"I've been doing it for a couple of years now and these kids, they mean the world to me. And they're not family. They're not friends of family," he said. "They weren't anything but a last name and a number when I first met them."

And now, he says all nine of them are his kids.

When the discussion of memorable Thanksgiving moments entered the chat, Hinton and Dench both agreed that there are many, but nothing can top that first Thanksgiving together.

During their first meeting, news outlets were there to capture the experience. And Dench being Dench, she wasn't going to let anyone go hungry on Thanksgiving, so her and her husband prepared two turkeys and all the fixings so everyone could enjoy the holiday together.

Because the media was there and everything was so hectic, the two new family members didn't have much of a chance to get to know each other. But it didn't take long for them to meet up again.

"Jamal and I didn't get a chance to really have a sit down or heart-to-heart talk or anything so we went to dinner a couple of months after that and that's when we got to really know each other," Dench shared.

And after that first meeting, they've not only kept in touch and celebrated Thanksgiving together every year, but they also get together many times throughout the year.

"We went to a pumpkin patch and on a game show called 'The Cube,'" Dench said, before sharing a story about watching the Super Bowl together. "My husband, he passed away from COVID in 2020, and the next year, the Super Bowl, it was the Rams and Bengals, and my husband was a huge Rams fan."

Dench joined Hinton at his girlfriend's house to watch the Super Bowl. There were many others there. While Dench was rooting for the Rams, the rest of the crew was rooting for the Bengals, except for Hinton, who also cheered the Rams on.

"His girlfriend comes up to me and leans in and goes, 'You know, Jamal is a Bengals fan?' and I turned to him and went, 'You're a Bengals fan? Why are you yelling for the Rams?,'" she said. "And he said, 'Because you're the only one here that's a Rams fan and I didn't want you to feel alone.' And I thought that was the sweetest thing he had ever said. He always has my back and said he always would."