For Joe and Heather Pawelczyk, it's the perfect situation. They can take their kids camping all summer whenever they please and meet new people every day. And on top of that, it's free.

The couple volunteers much of its time at Spring Lake Park in Streator, a city-owned park once littered with trash, drugs and off-road vehicles. For the past three years, the Spring Lake Project, a nonprofit group, has turned that image around with hard-working volunteers who have donated time and materials.

Volunteers have flowed into the park, building benches, bird feeders and a ramp for easy access, planting flowers, trees and clearing trails, among other things, to make the area much more visitor-friendly.

On top of building up the image of the park, the Project looked to establish a resident host program, similar to those in many state and national parks.

Lois Guyon, a member of the Spring Lake Project, described the program in two different posts. People who want to work volunteer two hours a week as park hosts greeting visitors and providing information. The others are the residents who live on site, a job quickly filled once the Pawelczyks saw the wanted ad in the newspaper.

"We were the first ones to call," Heather Pawelczyk said.

To be qualified for this post, the resident hosts had to be at least 21 years old, have a hard-topped camper, pass a background check and have their own insurance. As resident hosts, the family stays overnight and for at least 35 hours a week handles such activities as checking restrooms, observing trails and seeing that city and park ordinances and laws are carried out.

In exchange for their volunteer work, the resident host family is granted free camping in the park, something not extended to anyone else.

The Pawelczyks, avid campers, jumped at the opportunity, and after setting everything up with Guyon, moved in May 1.

"They just enjoy being in the outdoors and spend a lot of time camping anyway," Guyon said.

The Pawelczyks, who have three sons, are glad their children can grow up camping at Spring Lake and spending time volunteering. The three boys even get to wear resident host badges as they please.

"This is all memories for them," Joe Pawelczyk said. "It'll be a great part of their life to look back on."

The children enjoy skipping rocks, roasting marshmallows for s'mores and exploring the park's trails.

The Pawelczyks have not only enjoyed their new surroundings, but have also, like many others, enjoyed volunteering their efforts to improve the park. Joe and Heather have cleared trails, helped build a ramp and generally take care of the park on a daily basis.

"Everyone (who donates time) has their own little talents, so they do it," Joe said. "Everyone contributes something."

He said people will just come around and contribute time and materials to the park. For example, there was someone who wanted to build concrete stairs near the waterfall, so he went ahead and did it.

Community members also planted about 75 trees all over the park this summer, he said.

There are also local businesses that donate such materials as mulch, lumber, rocks and flowers.

Joe, who works as a correctional officer in Pontiac, said the family tries to stay overnight a few times a week, but sometimes is limited because of the momentary lack of utilities. Guyon said the Spring Lake Project is currently working on setting these up specifically for the resident hosts. She estimated utilities may cost as much as $120,000 to $125,000.

"The utilities are the largest expense that will probably ever be associated with the development of the park," Guyon said.

Joe said once utilities are installed it will be easier to stay overnight more often. The family plans on staying with the resident host program next summer as well. The goal is to have another family in place so the two can switch off nights or months, he said.

With the park improving on a near-daily basis, Joe and Heather said the family is happy.

"It's great because we used to pay to go camping and now it's free," Joe said. "We always thought it would be cool to be that host camper and now we are."

Guyon said the Pawelczyks are welcome to stay all summer and is happy they were the ones to answer the wanted ad.

"They're exactly who we'd like to have representing the park," she said.