Bonnie and I were aware of Steppin' Stone Farm from our 1988-1992 time in the Valrico area, but we came to know it much better when our church, with other churches, helped build two 60 x 60 duplexes at the Farm to house support personnel such as the counselors.

Beginning in October 2004 and continuing for the next 18 months, Bonnie and I - and others - traveled every other Saturday morning to Lithia to work on the project. Sometimes there were a number of people there; sometimes there were only 4-6. On some occasions the girls came to help, and we got to know them. After a morning of work we cleaned up and had lunch with the girls at their dining hall, where we got to know the girls even better.

When the duplex project was complete, Bonnie and I asked ourselves if we wanted to keep up our contact with the girls, and we decided that that is what we wanted to do. So we offered to conducted volleyball clinics and have been doing so once or twice a month since.

We open with prayer concerns and praises, tell a joke or two on the UF Gators, and then proceed with volleyball. We do drills for prizes - with the prizes being pieces of candy. We also take drinks for the girls (but not Gatorade.) The sessions run from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and we normally spend the first 90 minutes on drills and games. For games we play water balloon volleyball and pushball volleyball. For the last 30 minutes we play "real" volleyball games, though we could have up to 12 on a side.