Twins from Louisiana who were raised in foster care are now paying it forward to help others in need.
Cherry and Sherry Wilmore have become pillars of their community. Locally in Houma, Louisiana, they’re known as “everybody’s favorite twins.” With glistening personalities and huge hearts, the duo has a lot of fans.
“I love them both dearly,” Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Tim Soignet said. And I’m not afraid to tell them I love them every day I talk to them and I’m very blessed that they’re part of our community.”
A close friend from college describes the Wilmore sisters as authentic, genuine, loving, caring and tenacious, but it’s how they grew up that is inspiring others.
Life in foster care
Cherry and Sherry spent 12 years, from ages 6 to 18, in foster care, spending most of their time with two families.
“We had foster parents, the McMahons – Mama Anna and Daddy Albert – and they were so loving to us. We didn’t realize we were in foster care until we left their home at 10,” they said.
The twins said they were up for adoption a few times but it didn’t work out.
When they aged out of the foster care system, they realized how lucky they were to have had such loving foster families.
“Six-year-old Sherry and Cherry didn’t see this. The ones who were left on the steps and even the ones who were not adopted,” Sherry said. “So this is, it’s a lot to take in, but it shows you that even when you felt forgotten, you’re not really forgotten.”
The two were separated for a year when they were 10 years old and in group homes. They would later find out the goal was never to reunite them.
“We had a psychologist who wrote ‘Cherry and Sherry Wilmore are a danger to society and they need to be institutionalized for the remainder of their life,'” the twins said. “We were nine because they said we fed off each other in the not productive way.”
They credit their foster parents, Anna and Albert, and then later, Louise Navy Wallace, who they said showed love and helped them to grow together positively.
“She (Wallace) said, ‘Oh no, we can’t separate twins. They need family. They need structure. They just need structure and discipline and they’ll be OK,'” Cherry said.
Wallace told the twins that foster care is a chapter, not their story.
“It stuck with us for the rest of our lives,” Sherry said.
Giving back
The twins decided to give back in a big way with their nonprofit, “CHeriSH Times Two” to support vulnerable communities. Through it, they donate laptops to college-bound foster care kids to help give them a boost in school.
They call themselves innovators, educators and influencers, but their friends say they’re much more.
“Cherry and Sherry are very unforgettable. They are such a ray of sunshine,” Ariel Triggs said.
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If the women, now 40, could talk to their younger selves, they said they would tell them how proud they would be of their adult selves.
“I tell 6-year-old Sherry that you will find the peace that you didn’t have as a child,” Sherry said.
The Wilmores also have a half-brother, Jeremy Wilmore.
While the women spoke with CBS News contributor David Begnaud for their interview in New York, Jeremy, who they hadn’t seen in 10 years, made a surprise appearance.
He said it was amazing to see his sisters’ accomplishments.
“Just watching what they did with their lives and all the tribulations, all the struggles they had to go through just to make it this far, it’s a blessing,” Jeremy said.
As their story inspires others, the twins want people to know you don’t have to go through anything alone.
“Sometimes the people you have to look forward to working with, may not be your family, family. It may not be biologically but find those people ’cause they’ll definitely be your family,” they said.
