The holidays are a time of counting your blessings and giving more to others. Many people give to food banks, work at a soup kitchen, or donate to a charity – you know, doing nice things for strangers. Going the extra mile, one grandmother in Mesa, Arizona invited a total stranger to her home for Thanksgiving dinner – and it all started with an accidental text message. [1]
Jamal Hinton, 17, was in class at Desert Vista High School when he got a random text from a woman telling him that the big turkey dinner would go down at 3 p.m. One little problem: she had the wrong number.
Hinton remembers:
“I texted back and I said ‘who is this?’ And she was like, ‘it’s your grandma.'”
As far as he knew, his grandmother didn’t have a smartphone, and if she did, well…he was pretty certain she’d have no idea how to use it. [2]
But, to be sure, he asked the woman to send him her photo. [1]
It wasn’t his grandmother.
So Hinton sent the woman a picture of himself, showing that it wasn’t her grandson. But he figured he’d ask her if he could snag a plate of food anyway. The woman replied:
“Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do…feed everyone!”
Hinton was so moved by the exchange that he posted their correspondence online, but (whoops!) he forgot to remove her phone number. After receiving about 600 text message asking for a Thanksgiving plate, the kindhearted grandma had to get a new number. [1]
She said:
“At first I thought, ‘Well this is annoying,’ until I started reading some people’s texts who were saying thank you so much, you’re such a kind person to let this young man into your home. From what I kept reading, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! I think this may be a little more important than what I thought it was.’ ‘Cause of all the racial tension that’s in the country.” [2]
But the woman, who originally wanted to remain anonymous but was eventually identified, took the whole thing in stride and has kept in touch with Hinton. She even gave him her address because he is still very much invited to Thanksgiving dinner.
In fact, the 2 met in person on November 16, and Dench once again invited Hinton over to her house for Turkey Day.
He accepted.
Hinton said:
“People can actually connect and be so nice to each other with people they don’t even know.” [1]
Source:
[1] CNN
[2] CBS News
