For more than two years, Karen Stein has taken her sons, Ari and Mikah, to Friday Night Friends, a respite care program for special needs children and their parents.

From 6 to 10 p.m. on the first Friday of every month, parents in search of time to themselves can drop their children off at Fieldstone United Methodist Church in Christiansburg to be cared for by medical students, doctors and community volunteers.

But most of the time, Stein doesn't want to leave.

"I play with the kids and sit and watch. It's just a lot of fun," Stein said. "It's one of those things that I'd be happy to volunteer for even if I didn't have a child who was eligible to be there."

Stein's 4-year-old son Mikah has Down syndrome. His 7-year-old brother Ari doesn't have what might be considered a special need but still enjoys going to Friday Night Friends. Participants there have disabilities including autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy.

The program started in 2005. At that time, Fieldstone's children's ministry leader, Karen Hanson, was trying to develop a program for special needs children in the church.

She and Fieldstone Pastor Lynne Alley-Grant made it a priority after talking with a new family attending the church.

"They had been told at other churches that they were not welcome," which brought them to Fieldstone, Hanson said. "Most churches don't have anything in place to accommodate children with special needs."

While the church staff was debating what to do, Hanson received an e-mail from Elizabeth Gersuk, then a student at the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Gersuk's older brother Stephen has Cornelia de Lange syndrome and attended a program similar to Friday Night Friends when they were growing up. Once she moved to Virginia to attend school, Gersuk began working with Ava Stanczak, a physician and professor at VCOM, to start a local program.

When Gersuk and Hanson collaborated, things started to happen.

The first Friday Night Friends was held on July 1, 2005, and brought in six special needs people ranging in age from 18 months to 28 years. Now, two years later, 40 people are enrolled in the program.

"The clients are diverse," Stein said. "It's not just children. It's not just people with severe disabilities, or people with mild disabilities. It's a whole range of people."

She said that one of Ari's best friends is a man in his 20s who can't speak. The two enjoy playing foosball and air hockey together.

Although the program has many volunteers, it is desperately in need of more doctors, Hanson said. Stanczak is the only one on staff.

"We desperately need at least one other physician so we can give Dr. Stanczak a break," Hanson said. Gersuk has since graduated from the VCOM program and works at a hospital in North Carolina. Although Hanson had never worked with children with special needs before Friday Night Friends, she said she's found it to be rewarding.

"Not only are they happy children but they are very grateful for what you do," she said. "And I find the parents to be very exceptional people."

Stein admits that sometimes she will leave the program and spend time with a friend or read a book in a coffee shop. Sometimes, she'll spend half of her time away and half of her time there. But she's usually the last to leave.

"My kids are usually one of the last families to leave because they don't want to leave."