With $800 in donations and a whole lot of elbow grease, the Wareham Police Department memorial has become an eye-catching tribute to Wareham's men and women in blue.

"Before, you didn't see the memorial. Your eyes went straight to the basketball hoops," said resident Karen Spinks, who spearheaded the volunteer beautification effort after stumbling upon the memorial, located on Marion Road next to the Multi-Service Center.

Situated in front of a chain-link fence that surrounds the town's basketball courts, a monument on which the names of Wareham's fallen officers are engraved got lost in its surroundings, Spinks explained.

Spinks asked the community for help in paying for trees, bushes, and flowers to make the area pop.

Community members — including widows of some of the police officers — rallied, and so did Lowe's Home Improvement, which gave Spinks a discount after learning about the effort.

"They were absolutely marvelous," she said of the store. "Without them, it wasn't possible."

The town's Municipal Maintenance department dropped off fresh soil, and once the trees and flowers were purchased, Spinks got to work with whomever stopped by to help.

"It's been a community project," she said.

James Kelly, a 23-year-old Wareham man who met Spinks while she was picking up trash along Marion Road one day, said he got involved with the project "after the holes were dug." He coordinated times to meet Spinks at the memorial and saw the project to fruition.

"James has been the workhorse with the mulching," said Spinks, noting she was grateful for the avid volunteer's assistance.

Because the names of the officers are carved on the back of the monument, "the design encourages people to walk around," Spinks noted.

Dozens of other community members also helped, arranging days to meet and plant.

The plantings are drought-tolerant, making the area relatively low-maintenance, Spinks said.

The trees now separate the memorial from the basketball courts and the other plantings create what Spinks said she hopes will be a "contemplative" place.

Kelly agreed.

"We invite all to come down and check it out," he said.

The beautification effort continues. Sprinks says she is trying to establish a "resource list" of people who would like to propagate and share perennials from their own gardens to plant in other public spaces in town.

"The idea is to improve public areas, making them little- to no-maintenace, and drought tolerant," Spinks explained.

If you'd like to help or know of a public area in need of some love, contact Spinks at treeandshrubdonation@gmail.com.