You drive by it often, whether you're on the way to a basketball game at Wareham High School or to Town Hall to pay your property taxes. But you may not even know it's there.

Situated on Marion Road in front of the basketball courts, adjacent to the Multi-service Center, is the Wareham Police Department police memorial. The area contains a couple of stone benches and a monument displaying the names of the town's fallen officers -- two of whom died on-duty.

Wareham resident Karen Spinks noticed it and decided it needed some sprucing up -- because she wants others to notice it, too.

"It's a token of appreciation and respect," she said.

Spinks reached out to the police department and got the green light to add some greenery to the memorial site.

She's looking to plant 18 five-foot arborvitae evergreen trees, 20 rhododendron bushes with white flowers, two five-foot Leyland cypress evergreen trees, 12 holly bushes, and a couple of flowering trees.

The trees will act as a natural screen to separate the area from the chain-link fence of the basketball courts, she said.

Spinks' goal? To get the place looking more like a memorial. Suitably, she is hoping to finish the project by Memorial Day.

"It's evolving in my head," Spinks said with a smile while surveying the site after the town's Municipal Maintenance department dropped off some fresh soil. "It's going to look really nice."

Spinks is looking for donations of greenery for the project, as well as volunteers to help with the planting. She is not asking for donations of money, however. She hopes that residents or businesses interested in helping will contact her and arrange to purchase an item on the list.

She'll take on the project herself, however, if need be.

"This is going to happen and I'm going to fund it," she said. "It's just about the size" of the plantings.

If Spinks doesn't receive donations, she'll have to settle for smaller trees and bushes, she said. But the project will come to fruition regardless.

"This is something that the community can do for the police," she said. "I think it tells the police that they're valued. They're appreciated."

If you'd like to donate manpower or plantings, contact Karen Spinks at treeandshrubdonation@gmail.com.