The daily lifestyle of the average heroic life is usually not extraordinary, but it does take the steady willingness to do any task, and a desire to maintain a heart to serve others.

Randy and Barb Enbergs are such humble heroes. “We haven’t done anything special,” they said at the start of their Hometown Hero interview.

When Tammy Dunker heard the Enbergs were going to be Hometown Heroes, however, she phoned to say the Enbergs are very special to her family.

Dunker gratefully tells, “I ran into the Enbergs five years ago, and we started talking about housing on Whidbey. I told them what I was paying for my family to live in an old single-wide mobile. I left the brief conversation not thinking anything more than they were nice people.”

“I don’t know what they did or who they called, but within a week we were offered a real nice affordable house to rent,” Dunker recalls. “I have a feeling this act of caring is a normal day occurrence for them, and maybe they don’t even remember. We are still in that house and we love it.”

Sharon Stevens, a Habitat for Humanity volunteer, says volunteering is not a time filler for these two — it’s a way of life.

“Many people talk about the woes of our modern society, and some people roll up their sleeves and go to work solving problems. Like the business owners they are, they take a no-nonsense business like approach to the mechanics of a project. How to find funding, put a team together, and execute the plan,” Stevens says. “They do this successfully without leaving the ‘heart’ out of the plan.”

The Enbergs each have hope in their hearts that everyone will find affordable and decent housing.

Donna Vasiliades, founder of the South Whidbey Habitat for Humanity Chapter, writes “Randy and Barb have been indispensable members of the South Whidbey Habitat for Humanity Board from the time of our first meeting in 1998. They have served with a smile, hard work, a caring attitude and a lot of dedication to help six completed homes here on South Whidbey.”

Randy believes it’s a shame that the people who provide important services cannot afford to buy a home to raise their families.

Barb adds, “Because many people care about this housing problem, hope is coming for more people to own their own homes.”

Randy and Barb talk as if they are one. One starts a sentence and the other tells the middle while it’s back to the other to finish. Conversations appear choreographed; a delightful dance of words that’s entertaining and fun to listen to, but hard to catch just who said what.

Randy — or was it Barb — say how fortunate it is to be able to help. They credit their families for modeling the gift of service to others.

The two met at age 5. Barb showed her dad her kindergarten class picture, pointing to the little boy with the mischievous grin and the leather bomber hat with one ear flap up and the other down.

That’s my boyfriend and I’m going to marry him when I grow up, the 5-year-old told her father. And marry him she did, over 40 years ago.

A look at family pictures with the Enbergs, their family with their grand boys, is another reminder of how their giving nature has spread throughout their family.

“The grand boys look forward to giving of themselves and their possessions.” Barb says. “They consistently go through their closets boxing up their extra clothes and toys to give away.

They are kind to the environment and those they can serve.”

Randy says that all volunteers are equal; it shouldn’t matter how you serve.

“It makes no difference if you give one hour a week or 50 hours a week, one dollar or 5,000,” he says. “It’s the passion and heart you have for service that matters.”

When one Enberg is involved in a voluntary effort, the support of the other is always evident.

“I have never known Barb to say ‘no’ to any request,” says Kathy Habel, past president of Soroptimists. “Barb and Randy have served coffee, lugged tables, made Costco runs, brought flower arrangements, donuts, salads, dinners, deserts, anything needed.”

“Barb was unable to go on the Soroptimists trip planned, but lo and behold at 6 a.m. there she and Randy were in the cold and rain seeing us off and handing out all of us hot coffee and muffins,” Habel recalls. “Randy has been the burgermeister for Soroptimist summer picnics and stays behind to clean up.”

Their appreciation for others, and willingness to give, is inspired by the place they call home.

Work doesn’t feel like work on Whidbey, Randy says, and every day is a vacation day when you live in a place like this.

Barb says, “When we travel and tell people where we live — they’re always envious. And that’s before we tell them about the exceptional and caring people that live here.”

The appreciation the Enbergs feel for this island is passed on through their many volunteer endeavors.

Lynn Hicks, founder and creator of Whidbey Island Share a Home, writes about the importance of the passion the Enberg’s provide for WISH.

“When WISH Board member Barb agrees to volunteer with something she moves full speed ahead. She has served passionately with her entire being engulfed into the project and contributes wholeheartedly. Even when health issues work to slow Barb down, she takes care of business and then gets right back into it with a smile and positive outlook,” Hicks notes.

Michael Schuerlein, a Habitat for Humanity and community volunteer, writes how the Enbergs take either a small or large task and run with it. “I met Randy while parking cars for a fundraiser event at Greenbank Farm. I was new to the island, Randy got me involved with Habitat and the Community Land Trust. Randy and Barb remind me of a quote from Ashe: ‘True heroism is remarkably sober…very un-dramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others, at whatever cost rather the urge to serve others — at whatever cost.’”