Airbnb Is Offering a Seat at the Thanksgiving Table With Viral ‘Grandma’ Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton
Nearly a decade after their heartwarming story went viral, you can now join Jamal Hinton and ‘Grandma’ Wanda Dench for their 8th annual Thanksgiving feast.
Dench, 66, and Hinton, 24, will co-host a stay at Dench’s Arizona home with Airbnb on Monday, Nov. 20, complete with an invitation to their Thanksgiving dinner table. Other parts of the experience during the stay include playing board games, watching movies, cozying up by the fire with a cup of cider or hot cocoa, and taking selfies with Dench and Hinton.
Guests can book to request an overnight stay at Dench’s home and get a coveted seat for Thanksgiving dinner with her beginning on Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. ET by visiting this site. The stay is priced at $16—a subtle nod to the year that the two spent their first Thanksgiving together.
To sweeten the experience, Airbnb will make a one-time donation to Feeding America in an effort to further the goal of creating a country where no one is hungry. Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., and helps provide food and support to 32 million people facing hunger each day, per a press release.
In 2016, Hinton, who at the time was a teenager, received an accidental and fateful text from Dench, who had initially meant to invite her grandson over for Thanksgiving. Hinton infamously asked if he could still get a plate anyway, to which Hinton agreed, writing, “That’s what grandmas do…feed everyone.” Dench has extended invites to Hinton every year since. The story of their unlikely friendship and now-annual Thanksgiving tradition went viral and touched the hearts of millions around the world.
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