Deb Tanner, organizer and founder of The Sweet Dreams Project, looks through gifts Wednesday at Skowhegan Federated Church. The project is set to give gift bags to 600 local children of all ages this year, up from about 500 last year and just over 100 in 2016, its first year. “They’re so happy,” Tanner says of the recipients she encounters. “They know that they’re going to get something nice.” Jake Freudberg/Morning Sentinel

SKOWHEGAN — Tucked away at Skowhegan Federated Church is a room that looks quite a lot like Santa’s workshop.

There are piles of books, puzzles and games. Boxes of shirts, jackets and pajamas. Toys like Lego sets, dolls and Play-Doh. Even handmade quilts, pizza shop gift cards and a couple of bikes.

And that is all in addition to the 600 bags of gifts in two other rooms, already wrapped up and ready to be distributed to children Wednesday through The Sweet Dreams Project.

“It’s really rewarding, especially today, when the people come to get their gifts,” said Deb Tanner, one of the women behind the effort to hand out the hundreds of gifts to kids in the Skowhegan area. “They’re so happy. They know that they’re going to get something nice.”

Tanner, a longtime math teacher at Skowhegan Area Middle School, started the project in 2016 as a way to give back to the community after winning Somerset County Teacher of the Year in 2015.

Initially, each child who participated got a book and pajamas. In 2020, after the town stopped its gift program, The Sweet Dreams Project expanded to toys and other gifts, Tanner said.

The number of gifts has grown each year from just over 100 in 2016, Tanner said. Last year, about 500 bags were distributed.

When Tanner started the project, she ran it out of her house, and people still drop off items there. But now, the Federated Church on Island Avenue, where her husband, the Rev. Mark Tanner, is the pastor, serves as the home base for gathering, packing and distributing the gifts.

Tanner, her friend Lisa Duguay and her daughter Kaley Brown — also a Skowhegan educator and the 2024 Somerset County Teacher of the Year — started packing the gifts in October. Tanner estimates they each put in around 90 hours of work making the bags.

Lauren Beane, a volunteer with The Sweet Dreams Project, carries bags of gifts out of a room at Skowhegan Federated Church on Wednesday. This year, the project has 600 gift bags to hand out to children in the community. Jake Freudberg/Morning Sentinel

They get a bit of information from those who sign up to receive gifts, like the child’s gender, age and clothing size, but mostly guess what would make a good gift from their wide selection of donated items. Every bag is different and has at least five items.

The gifts went to children of all ages, from newborns to teenagers.

“We get so many boys, older boys, like 15, 16, 17, and 18,” Tanner said. “We don’t get as many babies as we’d like, but we get lots of older kids.”

The project is fully funded by donations of items and money from people and businesses. Along with many locals, people with Skowhegan-area connections in Kansas, North Carolina and Florida support it every year, Tanner and Duguay said.

Large donations totaling thousands of dollars this year came from Skowhegan Savings Bank, Al’s Pizza and Brookfield Renewable, among other local organizations, according to Tanner.

“The thing that keeps me doing it is the fact that — and I still can’t get over — how well we’re supported,” said Duguay, a lifelong Skowhegan resident who has helped Tanner with the project since its beginning.

Gift bags from The Sweet Dreams Project were prepared and ready to be distributed Wednesday at Skowhegan Federated Church. Jake Freudberg/Morning Sentinel

Early Wednesday morning, a steady stream of gift recipients was trickling into the church parking lot, where volunteers had a drive-thru pick-up system set up — a remnant of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next door at Tewksbury Hall, project organizers also set up a pop-up shop where people could pick up second-hand items for no more than a few dollars. Tanner said the proceeds from that sale support buying gifts for future years.

Inside the church, the packed bags were organized by name and labeled accordingly in two rooms downstairs. Those who requested multiple gift bags came before Wednesday to get their gifts, Tanner said, simply to make space to walk through the rooms.

Tanner said she sees many of the same people each year. And, she said, it is not uncommon for someone to contact her the day of the giveaway or during the next week before Christmas to see if there is anything still available. The answer is always yes.

“This brings such happiness and joy,” Tanner said. “Oh my God, to be able to help other people.”