HANSVILLE — Putting on a rummage sale as big as Hansville’s involves much more than just collecting donations and pricing items.

It means 200 volunteers spending 10 months organizing, warehousing, picking up donations, presorting and figuring what to charge for each, all to make a nice chunk of change for the Hansville Community Center Board, which turns around and puts it right back into the community.

Those are just some of the reasons Hansville Rummage Sale organizer Tony Atkinson made a couple of changes to this year’s sale and, so far, he said they are working.

To highlight more of the collectible and high-end items, the main room of the community center will be used strictly for that category. In the past, it has typically included a variety of sections, such as clothes, antiques and arts and crafts. But this year, it will have the sole purpose to help show off some of the unique and valuable items that sometimes get lost in their respective departments, Atkinson said.

Items set for the room include a Danish Bang & Olufsen stereo system, DVD players, CD changers, a large mechanical knitting machine, an African wooden bird sculpture, a brass rice steamer, a number of rare figurines, two Wurlitzer pianos and even a vintage 1955, 200-record 45 RPM jukebox.

“There will be some good things out there,” Atkinson said.

In order to spot these quality items, the method of accepting donations was also changed this year.

“We’re trying to upgrade the quality of the products by presorting,” Atkinson explained, noting that in years past, volunteers have been discriminatory about the types of donations they have accepted from the community. Even so, they still have several truckloads of items leftover, which were taken to charity.

This year, Atkinson decided to reverse that — pick up any and all kinds of donations, take what will be sold and give the rest to charity, all before the sale takes place.

The theory has worked so far, Atkinson said, as volunteers have already made several trips to local charitable organizations, thus reducing the post-event work.

“We feel this collection service we’re doing is a community service for the people,” he said.

Atkinson also proposed creating a committee to oversee the event’s operations, rather than having just two people shoulder the work. After spearheading the sale the past two years, which brought in more than $30,000 in 2004, he felt it was time to make a change.

Now, there are five chairs — one each for warehousing sale items, picking up donations, administrating, publicizing the event and recruiting volunteers.

Atkinson looks a little more relaxed this year.

But even so, he’s not losing sight of the reason behind the sale, namely supporting the board’s various programs, scholarships and community events.

“We have to keep in mind this is a moneymaker,” he said. “This is the principle budget of the HC Board.”