Each Sunday this couple opens their doors and creates a home away from home for students and military personnel....

Young people, mostly college students and airmen from Dyess AFB, gather at the home of Mike and Cheryl Barber each Sunday. They not only find good food and fellowship, but a home away from home.

The Barbers have entertained young people for 14 years in their home on Sundays. They also prepare a lunch for all, with John and Evelyn Willis helping the past two years.

"We might have as few as 40 and as many as 60 on Sundays," Cheryl Barber said.

"We do not do this for recognition," Mike Barber said. "We do it for the kids."

He said it started when he met a college student who didn't have family in Abilene.

"We invited her to our house and it just grew from there," Mike Barber said.

The Barbers have busy lives. He is 62, retired from the Navy, and has a landscaping business. Cheryl Barber, 58, teaches at Cooper High School.

Mike Barber said the young adults come from all over the United States and the world.

"We have young people from Singapore, Thailand, England, Germany, South America" and more, he said.

The kids sometime call Mike and Cheryl their second mom and dad.

"Most of our own children do not live close," Mike Barber said. The couple have eight children and 21 grandchildren.

He said he enjoyed being with the young people and watching them grow.

"I like the atmosphere when they meet in our home," Mike Barber said. He said they start coming over about noon and usually stay to the middle of the afternoon.

"We have some who are graduate students who have been with us for at least six years," he said. He said they sometimes get calls and emails from young adults from all over the world who have visited their home.

Ruth Jackson, who nominated the Barbers to be "Everyday Heroes," said the young people find love and encouragement when they go to the Barbers' home on Sunday.

"It is very nice of Mike and Cheryl to open their home to us," said Joseph Mock, 28, an Abilene Christian University graduate student who's from California. "I went to their home to get acquainted with others."

The Barbers said word of mouth spread the news to young people that they could meet at the couple's home each Sunday.

The couple also give their visitors a helping hand apart from Sundays.

"Mike sometime helps the kids through the week if they have car trouble or need a ride," Cheryl Barber said. "Mike was in the military. He knows how much it means to kids to find a home away from home."