If you want to snag the best deals at the Prince of Peace rummage sale in Lake Villa, come early. But please don’t disrupt the volunteers as they pray. “The doors open at 8, and just before we opened, we gathered everyone for a prayer, and there were people beating on the doors,” said Stefanie Koenig, who chaired the rummage sale committee for the third time June 10-13. “Those are the early birds.” The rummage sale has gone on for at least 10 years, according to the old-timers. Many of those old timers are retired. But not all. There’s also 16-year-old Alex Case, a junior at Carmel High School, who was volunteering at the event for the ninth year in a row. “I enjoy doing it. I just like helping people,” said Case, one of about 125 volunteers who puts in time during the four days the sale runs. Case came with a friend, Tona Robinson, also a student at Carmel. “It’s more fun than I thought it would be,” Robinson said. “I come from a big family, so I’m used to things being chaotic. This is actually more organized.” Others work behind the scenes in the months and weeks leading up to the sale, which benefits Prince of Peace School, Koenig said. For example, two families start picking up large items in January. And there are plenty of large items: refrigerators, stoves, bathtubs and even a kitchen sink or two. The 19-foot boat sold early the first day of the sale, but five hours after opening, there were still three roll-top desks in the school hall. Clothing rooms were packed, with volunteers still adding to the racks, as Koenig walked the halls to check on people, answering questions and finding relief for volunteers in need of a break. The sale usually raises about $30,000 for the school, she said, but it varies from year to year, depending on what items have been donated, the weather and other factors. “I’m happy if we break even,” she said, “because then we’ve covered the expenses and really built community. After you do this, people you see at Mass aren’t strangers anymore. After bonding over the piles of clothes, fighting the rain together and tents that blow away, you’re not strangers anymore.” That goes as well for members of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Waukegan, Prince of Peace’s sharing parish. Most Holy Trinity sends a contingent of volunteers to help, offering members of both parishes the chance to meet “on a level playing field,” Koenig said. Sitting in a metal folding chair waiting for her sister, Diane Sattler showed off a noisy truck she had purchased for her grandson, and added that she had 12 new blouses for work. Sattler said she took a day off work to come to the sale, even though she lives in Cicero. Her sister, she said, lives in Lake Villa, and they like to shop together. She’ll carry everything home on the train, she said. Hours into the sale, Koenig surveyed the rooms and said quite a bit had cleared out already. Volunteers go through the display areas every evening to tidy up for the next day, and then after the sale ends, they dispatch whatever hasn’t sold to other charities, she said. John Delisi, who managed the outdoor area, said he’s retired, so he has the time to help. Asked why he has volunteered year after year, he said, “I’m a glutton for punishment. That’s the only reason. That, and when you’re done, it feels good to stop.”