TEMECULA - When Temecula needed a sports park in the early 1980s, it was a group of civic-minded residents who went ahead and built it.

When the same sports park needed lights installed for its flagpole this yea, again the residents stepped up.

Perry Peters, president of the Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park, was contacted by members of the Central Little League, which plays its games at the park. The ballplayers had to look up the hill to the nearby fire station to salute the colors before games.

"It just wasn't right that they didn't have a permanent flag to pledge allegiance to," Peters said.

The manpower to raise and lower the flag each day was deemed too expensive by the city, Peters said. And flag etiquette requires the flag to be lit at night if it is to remain up. So the pole sat empty.

Peters began seeking the same spirit of volunteerism that was the impetus for the sports park more than 25 years ago.

Mark Kolek of Temecula and his Menifee company, Litelines, was approached by the Friends of the sports park about two months ago to contribute the lighting fixture for the flagpole illumination. Mark Schutz of Murrieta and his Temecula Tri City Electric Company was also recruited to do the wiring for the project. Because of their donated services, the flag will be able to remain flying over the park at all hours of the day.

Kolek and Schutz were each presented with Medallions of Initiative for the their efforts during a ceremony Thursday morning.

"This is really unexpected," Schutz said after the ceremony. "All we needed was a handshake and a 'thank you.'"

But with all the work done preparing the park to fly Old Glory round the clock, no ordinary flag would do.

On Thursday more than 55 members of the USS Ronald Reagan, which is home-ported in San Diego, came to the park to volunteer their time doing maintenance work at the facility. In addition, the sailors brought with them a flag that once few over their ship to its new home at the park.

The construction of the Rancho California Sports Park was completed in 1982 after community members used their own funds and muscle to construct the facility on Margarita Road and Rancho Vista Way. The efforts caught the attention of then-president Ronald Reagan who commended the residents of Temecula for their "can-do" spirit. Because of that recognition, the park was renamed the Ronald Reagan Sports Park in September 2004.

"Today is more than a light and a flag," said Randon Lane, a representative of Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries. "It's about the ongoing relationship with this community and the members of the USS Ronald Reagan."

The group of sailors sent the day painting, fixing up bleachers and sprucing up the overall park. They were treated to a barbecue and played a softball game against members of Temecula's city staff.

The volunteer work has been a tradition since 2005, when Chief Petty Officer Michael McCracken, now retired, suggested the crew come to the aircraft carrier's namesake park, each summer to help maintain the facility.

"It's been great having a relationship with the city," said Command Master Chief Jim DeLozier. "It's nice to give back to the community that does so much for our sailors."

- Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.