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Louisiana twins spent 12 years in foster care. Now they are inspiring their community with their story.
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.
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As Trump puts Aurora, Colorado, in spotlight, mayor calls Venezuelan gang claims “grossly exaggerated”
The Republican mayor of Aurora, Colorado, said former President Donald Trump’s rally in the city Friday presented an opportunity “to show him and the nation” that Aurora is “not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs.”
Mayor Mike Coffman made the statement Tuesday after weeks of misleading claims by the former president that the city was a “war zone” overrun with members of a Venezuelan gang.
During last month’s presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump pointed to Aurora as evidence that immigrants are “violently” taking over the town. “You look at Aurora in Colorado. They are taking over the towns. They’re taking over buildings,” Trump said.
Coffman said concerns about gang activity have been “grossly exaggerated.” He said the “incidents were limited to several apartment complexes in this city of more than 400,000 residents.”
Aurora Police Department Chief Todd Chamberlain said in a Sept. 20 press conference that the city is “not by any means overtaken by Venezuelan gangs.”
Central to the gang takeover claims is a viral video showing armed men entering an apartment in Aurora on Aug. 18. The incident led to the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old man, police said.
A local councilwoman shared the video on Facebook, claiming a gang took over “entire apartment complexes” in the city. Coffman shared a screenshot from the video and said the city is working to “request an emergency court order to clear the apartment buildings where Venezuelan gang activity has been occurring.”
Reuters/Isaiah J. Downing
However, after patrolling the complex, the police department said gang members had not taken over the building and residents were not paying rent to gangs. Coffman also visited the building and said tenants told him they did not have safety concerns but were alarmed by garbage “piling up” and a “rodent infestation.”
Coffman said tenants told him they had not been paying rent because “there was no longer an onsite property manager who had always collected the rent.” Coffman said initial reports of a gang takeover came from the property management company, CBZ Management. CBS News reached out to CBZ Management and has not heard back.
The mayor and councilwoman released a statement on Sept. 11 to “clear the record” and say gang members have not “taken over” the city.
Police said as of Sept. 20, they do not have any information that leads them to believe the men in the video are in a gang.
Chamberlain said Aurora, like any other city, does have crime and gang activity. The police department said it set up a special task force with local, state, and federal officials to address gang activity.
The police department said it has linked 10 people to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and eight of those people have been arrested as of Sept. 11. But Chamberlain said there is “a lot of complexity” when identifying suspects as gang members, adding that it has been “a struggle.”
“The one thing I really want to make certain on in this whole discussion is that this is a focus on criminal behavior, this is not a focus on immigration status,” Chamberlain said.
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