Jamal Hinton: Wanda And I Will Carry Thanksgiving In Honor Of Lonnie!

Jamal Hinton promises to help Wanda Dench get through the loss of her husband Lonnie. He was the man who received a text message from her inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner by accident.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

PROTECT BLACK WOMEN! 

END SARS NOW!

HER NAME IS BREONNA TAYLOR!

WEAR A DAMN MASK! SAVE A LIFE!

BLOGGER IS TRASH!

Even in the wake of a deadly pandemic, a friendship still is holding strong. 

Wanda Dench may have lost her husband this year to COVID-19 but the Arizona woman still will continue the tradition of having Thanksgiving with her best friend.

Jamal Hinton, the African American man who received a random text message from Wanda inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner didn’t know who the person was. The random exchange happened when Wanda accidentally texted Jamal that he was coming over for Thanksgiving dinner. He wondered who the person was and he asked for a picture. She shares a picture and then he shares a picture.

What could have been “Hey, I’m sorry, wrong number!” became, “Well come on over!”

And ever since, Jamal came over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Jamal poses with his girlfriend and Denchs in 2019. Lonnie Dench passed away from COVID-19 in 2020.

Now Jamal is there for the first time since Wanda’s husband Lonnie passed away. The two have been very close since. The two shared a reflection on why it’s still important to carry on their gathering.

Watch our video 😅 https://t.co/Jz2NNjv17L

— Jamal Hinton (@Jamalhinton12) July 18, 2018

“It’s going to be different, my first Thanksgiving without him,” Wanda said to the New York Times. “{Lonnie] was always right behind me, telling me how proud he was of Jamal and me for what we’ve done.”

Jamal, 21, has become friends with the Denchs over the years. He and his girlfriend, Mikaela, would go on double dates together in addition to their yearly Thanksgiving dinner.

“After meeting (Wanda Dench) the first time I just knew, she’s another person, age is really just a number,” Jamal told The Times. “It doesn’t matter; you can be friends with anybody, you can be family with anybody.”