Foster twins who adopted Houma give back to system, will publish book about experiences

A set of Houma twins who appeared on national television will release a book about the Louisiana foster care system and dedicate their time to helping other foster children.

Sherry and Cherry Wilmore are activists best known for their social media identities, Everybody's Favorite Twins. The two were guests on the Jennifer Hudson Show, May 16 and 17, where they spoke about their projects and themselves.

They spent 12 years in the Louisiana foster care system, moving from Lake Charles to Houma. Their experience with foster care was abnormally good compared to most, they say. They plan to release a book about their time with it in the fall.

"Me and my sister, we always say we are unicorns," Cherry said. "Our story is not common, and it's a shame that it isn't."

The two were born in Lake Charles, to LaDell Wilmore but ended up in the foster care system at the age of 6 because of their mother's struggle with drug addiction. They were taken in by Albert and Anna McMahon in Oberlin. The McMahons owned a farm, and the two raised chickens, pigs, and rode a horse named Zydeco.

Their foster parents loved them unconditionally, Sherry said. The two were forced to leave the McMahons and move away because of their biological mother, though they would not go into detail. They said they were saving that detail for their book.

"Let's just say our birth mother was not OK with her rights being terminated," Cherry said. "It's not an easy topic. We don't often talk about it."

This led them to the McDonnell Children's Home in Houma. From there, Cherry was adopted by Louise Navy Wallace, and a year later Wallace gained custody of Sherry as well.

Sherry said Louise was the yang to the McMahon's yin. Where the McMahons raised the twins with a soft and nurturing touch, Louise gave them tough love. She brought discipline to their lives when they needed it most, Sherry said.

"So 6-year-old Sherry and Cherry just entering foster care needed unconditional love, needed kindness, they needed goodness in the world, and that was the McMahons," Sherry said. "The McMahons was everything good and kind in the world. Ten-year-old Sherry and Cherry needed the structure that momma Louise possessed so they didn't go out and bruise the world. Louise taught us balance."

Sherry works as a Reentry Coordinator for Goodwill, covering Terrebonne and Lafourche. Cherry works full time as the administrator of their nonprofit - Cherish Times Two. Twinfest Louisiana is the nonprofit's major source of funding for its primary goal of giving college bound foster children laptops.

The two have organized the donation of laptops to foster children since 2020, and formed the nonprofit to continue these efforts. They say they do this because the Veterans of America donated laptops to them when they enrolled to Nicholls State University.

The laptops were a big help in their education, they said, and they wanted to pass along the aid to others.

The same year they began donating laptops, they also began incubating their social media identities. The brand is an extension of their activism, and they use it to amplify their voices on topics that are important to them. An early example can be found of them interviewing the then Terrebonne Parish Sheriff candidate Tim Soignet here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzXpSUOoJ_o&pp=ygUaRXZlcnlib2R5J3MgZmF2b3JpdGUgdHdpbnM%3D.

While the two have shown up at protests, they have used their brand to have a conversation with people on multiple sides of an issue.

"Our life taught us to be open to different people and their experiences," Cherry said. "We do often try to think of the world outside of ourselves, and outside of our experience."

Activism and fundraising aside, the two still find time to be foster parents. The two have raised their younger brother, Rodtrell Wallace, for six years.

"The best thing our momma could have ever done was charge us with raising him," Cherry said. "People talk about the challenges of raising a child, but there's a different level of challenge that comes with raising a child who is not biologically your child."

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Houma twins give back to foster care system, set to publish book