MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — What began as a mistaken text message has blossomed into a 10-year Thanksgiving tradition that continues to capture hearts worldwide.

Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench are celebrating their tenth consecutive Thanksgiving together, a friendship that started in 2016 when Dench accidentally texted the then-17-year-old Hinton, thinking she was inviting her grandson to dinner.

“There are no accidents. It was meant to be,” Dench said.

The mix-up occurred when Dench sent a Thanksgiving dinner invitation to the wrong phone number. When Hinton responded asking who was texting, Dench replied it was grandma.

“I get this text back saying who is this and I said its grandma and the next message was well send me a picture,” Dench said.

Friendship grows through life’s challenges

What could have been a forgettable mistake transformed into an annual reunion. The pair have supported each other through significant life events, including the death of Dench’s husband in 2020 and her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment last year.

“We just all clicked. It was amazing. We spent hours talking. There was no generation gap. It was just fun and joyful and exciting,” Dench said.

“I love it to spend thanksgiving with so many different types of people,” Hinton said.

The friendship has provided mutual support during difficult times.

“I was able to talk with Jamal and he’s always given me encouragement and I’ve been very blessed,” Dench said.

“It feels like a best friend. She feels like someone you can talk to about anything. So when you go through anything I call her all the time. She answers her phone,” Hinton said.

Both consider each other family now.

“Jamal will always be in my inner circle of family,” Dench said.

“Family she’s family no matter what,” Hinton said.

This year’s celebration was sponsored by Green Giant.

Last year, the pair met virtually while Dench was battling cancer, making this year’s in-person reunion particularly meaningful.

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Talk about being in a New York State of Mind!

Northern Arizona University’s Lumberjacks Marching Band is making some State 48 history this week by becoming the first college marching band from Arizona to perform in the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City!

We caught up with the band’s director and one of the drum majors while they were in the Big Apple. They’ve been practicing quite a bit, including performing in Central Park.

“It seriously has been incredible,” says Sebastian Cisneros-Ortega, an NAU junior who is part of the school’s drum majors and is also a graduate of Paradise Valley High School.

Performing in Central Park is really just the opening act as the Lumberjacks gear up for their biggest audience yet – millions of people in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“It’s been absolutely wild,” says Sebastian. “I am still processing the fact that we made it. It’s truly been magical and a dream come true and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.”

And it sounds like Sebastian and his more than 250 other bandmates are getting rave reviews already.

“The crowd just grew bigger and bigger and bigger, and we were all sitting there, like, oh my gosh! They’re here to see us and what Arizona has to offer!”

It all started for NAU 18 months ago when they found out they’d be performing. The school posted a video on its YouTube page to highlight the moment students found out.

“It’s about giving our students [opportunities] that other bands across the country have and it’s putting them on the national stage and recognizing their amazing hard work,” explains band director Stephen Meyer.

Meyer made it to the iconic parade once before in 2009 as a band director for a high school in the Midwest.

Meyer says this moment is about helping his students hit high notes along the parade route – and also in life.

“Hard work pays off,” Meyer says. “And anything really is possible!”

“If we work hard enough, anything can be possible,” says Sebastian. “With our hard work, with our effort, our dedication, we can make these great things work!”

NAU will perform three songs during the parade – and before that, will take part in a special ribbon-cutting ceremony with none other than Wicked star Cynthia Erivo!

Just two days remain between the Arizona Wildcats’ biggest game of the season, a heated rivalry match between them and the Arizona State Sun Devils that has lasted since 1899.

The Wildcats’ offense ran all over the Baylor Bears’ defense on the way to a 41-17 blowout victory in Casino Del Sol Stadium and now face the challenge of doing the same to an ASU defense that ranks second in the Big 12 when it comes to stopping the rush.

Arizona’s defense must also play at its very best when it goes up against the Sun Devils offense that ranks fifth in the conference, third in rushing and eighth in passing.

Both Gonzales and Doege had plenty to say in Tuesday’s press conference, from the emotions of playing in a fierce rivalry game to what their squads need to do to come out of Mountain America Stadium with a fifth consecutive win. Here is a collection of what they had to say.

“We stink at stopping the run. So, what are they going to do? They’re going to run it a thousand times. Sims is going to probably have 50 carries. Raleek Brown’s going to have 40. And then they’re going to isolate Jordyn Tyson one-on-one. They’ll get us to put 10-to-11 guys in the box and see if they can beat our DBs one-on-one. That’s what I would do if I was them. That’s what I keep hearing.”

“So, I think they’re a damn good football team. I think Jeff Sims, if you watch the Iowa State game he’s physical, he’s big, he’s strong, and he plays football with the right demeanor. Raleek Brown, if you watched the Colorado game on Saturday night, he is physical, twitchy, fast.”

“Jordyn Tyson was finally back and I think he’s the best 50-50 ball catcher in America. I mean, he’s he is elite when the ball’s thrown up in the air. So, our DBs are gonna have a great challenge when they throw it to them.”

“People have struggled running the football on them and it’s because they’re really stout up front. They do a good job of doing what they do well. I think the linebackers are very active and then I think they got two really, really, really dynamic corners that they’re allowed to play on an island and play man free with.”

“I think their safeties are really, really, really aggressive and very, very physical. There’s a couple times on tape and they’ll come down and smack you, smack you. They’re extremely physical and they’re good at what they do.”

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“It’s passion over emotion and anything you do in life, if you make an emotional decision, it’s most of the time stupid and wrong. Then if you make a passional decision it means that you will put a commitment and made a commitment to make that choice. And so we cannot be full of emotion and there will be a ton of it all the way from the the warm-ups. That’s how it is.”

“In 2018, they had to line the Arizona State Troopers across midfield because there was a couple of interactions within the teams before the game. It doesn’t need to be that way. This is a great rivalry that the people up there don’t like the people down here.”

“We retain the quarterback and then we had to build around him when we started at the offensive line position the biggest part of that is we hit because you take five or six transfer linemen you’re hoping that you hit on two or three of them and we really hit on all of them and we hit in a big way. I mean KD (Ka’ena Decambra) is a major player for us.”

“Tristan (Bounds) ended up being a major player for us. Ty Buchanan is a major player for us. So those guys helped us turn us around pretty quickly. And then obviously some skilled guys with our receivers with (Luke) Wysong and Hut (Kris Hutson and (Tre) Spivey and all those guys. It just end up being a good group um of talent.”

Tell us your thoughts on the coordinators and how they have turned the program around from last season by commenting on our X account. Just click the link to find us and be sure to give us a follow.

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