He Found His Birth Mom Right Under His Nose

Vamarr Hunter, 51, is the CEO of Give Me Some Sugah bakery in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. Lenore Lindsey, 68, is retired from the bakery, which she founded. This is the story of how Lindsey and Hunter found out they were more than just friendly neighbors; they were family. A film about their reunion is scheduled for a Christmas 2026 release from Tyler Perry Studios.

Lenore Lindsey: I thought everything in my life was winding down. In 2022 I was being treated for breast cancer while working 12 to 15 hours a day, trying to keep my bakery open. I’d been running the business solo for 14 years. My daughter, Rachel, was on the other side of the world, teaching English in Beijing. I was worried I would have to close the shop.

Vamarr Hunter: I’d been a regular at Give Me Some Sugah for about 10 years, ever since moving to my Chicago neighborhood. The bakery felt like home to me. For a while I was engaged, and Miss Lenore took a liking to my then-fiancée, Meagan.

Lindsey: I did like Meagan, and I thought, Why is this guy hanging around her?

Hunter: I held a good job for nearly 20 years as a logistics and supply chain manager, but otherwise I was just moving along in life, trying to keep the ground under my feet. I first became a father when I was 17, and I had three more kids after that, with three other mothers, including Meagan, with whom I share a 7-year-old son. He and his siblings — ages 18, 30 and 34 — are close.

When his mother needed help with the bakery, Hunter took time most days after work for two years to learn how to bake. “Now she says my cakes are better than hers!” he says.

Martine Severin

Lindsey: I also became a parent at 17, but I gave the baby up for adoption.

Hunter: I knew I was adopted, but I had never looked for my biological mother. I guess maybe I was afraid she would be somebody like my adoptive mother, with whom I did not have an ideal relationship, though the rest of my adoptive family was great. I had a supportive family. In fact, one of my aunties gave me a genealogy test kit for Christmas one year. I took that test, but it was inconclusive. Later, my ex-fiancée bought me another one. I did that test too, but then I let the whole thing drop. Finally, when I was 47, a friend saw a news show or documentary on TV and urged me to call a phone number that had appeared on it. I heard a voice inside my head saying, Do it this time. And I listened. That’s how I ended up hiring someone to help me find my birth mother.

Lindsey: One day I got a call from an investigator, telling me my son was looking for me. She gave me his number. I didn’t know what kind of drama that would bring. This could be someone who was an opportunist or a drug addict. Given everything else that was going on in my life, I decided to call Vamarr and tell him, “I can’t deal with this right now.” Just in case things went bad, I called him from work.