If Sharon Doerr has her way, this Christmas will be rich in Barbies for 100 local girls. The Longview woman, who came to the area from Arizona two years ago, has started Project Christmas.

Since moving here, Doerr has salvaged a number of used dolls and crocheted eight-piece wardrobes for them. She gave the packaged Barbies and their ensembles to local charities, including the Salvation Army Christmas Center.

Gathering toys for the needy is not a new venture for Doerr. She started holding toy drives 25 years ago while living in Arizona.

At that time, she worked in a depressed area of the state.

“I had a sales job … (and) I went to the same people week after week,” she said. “I got to know these people. They became my friends.”

One family, she said, “had four girls, and one doll with no head.”

“I decided we had to do something about this,” she said. “I started asking other customers for used toys. By the end of the year, I had two churches involved, and we were collecting toys for more than 2,000 kids.”

After talking locally with Beverly Gilmore of the Christmas Center, Barbara Catlin of the Castle Rock Lions and representatives from the Emergency Support Shelter and ABATE, Doerr discovered the charities help more than 3,000 children with toys each year.

She set a goal of 100 Barbies for her effort this year and said she is thankful she has some helpers. They include Charlie Lepin, who aids her in packaging the dolls; and Muriel Lee, who has supplied some of the Barbies. Lee also works on baby dolls to give away.

These friends find Barbies at garage sales or local thrift shops. As long as the body is in good condition and the hair is salvageable, Doerr said, the doll can be saved.

She uses a pet brush to gently remove knots and tangles from the doll hair.

“You can also work in some creme rinse to smooth it out,” she said while running the brush through the hair of a brunette doll.

Doerr usually puts the hair into a ponytail using a petite hair band, then further tames it with clear plastic bands.

The efforts are time consuming, she said, with each packaged doll taking between four and five hours to complete.

When the dolls are done, their ensemble includes a long party dress; a short, sleeveless dress; a patriotic red, white and blue dress; a poncho; long pants; a skirt; and a halter top.

The finished product costs anywhere from $4 to $5 to create, Doerr said. The most expensive part is the yarn.

Besides being easier to work with than sewn clothing, Doerr said the crocheted outfits stretch and pull.

“If (a child) pulls on it, the seams won’t pop,” she said.

She created the patterns for the clothing, painstakingly counting stitches so she could formulate written directions.

The yarn she uses is small.

“Barbie doll clothes are really hard because she’s so little,” she said. “And the styles now are big, bulky scarves, big, bulky purses … and it’s only certain yarns that I can use.”

She hopes she can get more of a holiday yarn she found this season. She wants to use it to make fancy dresses for future dolls.

“This is what I want to do for next year,” she said, holding up a glittery gold dress. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to give them each a real sparkle party dress next year?”

Doerr said she welcomes donations of dolls, yarn or buttons — which she uses, 12 per doll.

“If they want to give yarn, I can e-mail them and give them the specific names of yarn so that they will know what we’re talking about,” she said.

She said if anyone wants to help crochet, she happily will set them up with patterns.

“What I’m really looking for is someone out there who can crochet and who has made all of the afghans that they will ever want to make and is looking for something different,” she said. “They can really make a difference in a child’s life.”

She also needs volunteers to fix the dolls’ hair and package them.

“If I could find someone out there who used to be a beautician or who is one, and who would like to play with Barbie hair, that would be wonderful,” she said.

Doerr said she is excited at how her project — which began with a few dolls and has grown to 100 — has expanded.

She encourages anyone out there who has a project or an idea to take action on it.

“Just go for it,” she said. “Because you can make a difference, and it won’t happen if you sit there and say, ‘I don’t know how.’ ”

• Anyone who would like to donate used Barbie dolls can drop them off at the Healing Spirit boutique, 207 S.W. Seventh, Longview (near Country Village Nutrition Shoppe) or call Barbara Catlin with the Castle Rock Lions Club at (360) 274-8175.