Sometimes a text from a wrong number can lead to a free Thanksgiving meal!
When Phoenix teenager Jamal Hinton received a text from an unknown phone number inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner, he thought it was “pretty funny, but kinda weird.”
“The text said, ‘Thanksgiving at my house’ and it was from a grandma, but I was like, ‘When did my grandma learn to text!?’
“So I asked her for a picture and it definitely was not my grandma.”
Hinton exchanged selfies with Wanda (she prefers her last name be omitted), a grandmother who meant to send the Thanksgiving text to her actual grandson, 24-year-old Brandon Burgoyne.
“Brandon recently switched his number and I actually ended up getting his old number,” says Hinton. “So it was all a big mix up. She meant to text him.”
But then something extraordinary happened. Hinton jokingly texted Wanda, “Can I still get a plate tho?” to which she replied, “Of course you can. That’s what grandma’s do…feed every one.”
“It was so unexpected, but she was just so sweet about it,” he says. “It was a reminder that there are still some good people left in this world.”
“Oh, and I’m definitely taking her up on her offer to join her family for Thanksgiving dinner!” he adds.
Hinton met Wanda on Wednesday and says the two had a “great bond.”
“She is a very sweet lady, she told me her husband was a veteran and she always invited his friends over for dinner, so she’s used to having a lot of people over,” the Desert Vista High School student explains. “I just got a vibe from her that made me feel at home.”
The teen says his family will join Wanda’s family on Thanksgiving for dinner.
“I’m bringing the pumpkin pie!” says Hinton with a laugh. “I honestly think we’ll hang out again. It’s the power of technology, you know? But for a good reason.”