Sunday was gray, cold and rainy, about as far from the idyllic Christmas setting as one might imagine.

But the holiday was apparent to many folks in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart on Fruitville Pike, where L.O.V.E. in Action was sharing the spirit.

"It's cold," Brigitte Juck, one of the organization's adult advisers, said through chattering teeth on the front walk of the busy retail giant.

Juck was stationed by a table where donations were being collected, holding up one of the L.O.V.E. in Action signs that kept blowing over in the wind.

L.O.V.E. (Love Others, Value Everyone) in Action is the youth group of the Lititz United Methodist Church ministry. Sunday was the group's first "Stuff the Van" event, collecting donations of new toys, hats and gloves for needy children in Lancaster County.

"We're working with the School District of Lancaster's Homeless Student Project," Juck said.

In previous years, the youth group has held "white gift" drives, for which people donate gifts wrapped in white tissue or money in white envelopes. "But this year we wanted to ramp it up a bit," she said.

About 15 members of the group, along with a handful of advisers, staffed the sidewalks at the Wal-Mart and Five Below stores. Way out in the parking lot, adviser Craig Williams held a lonely court by the van and trailer, where donations were stored.

"It wasn't easy to find two spaces together," he said, somewhat ruefully.

Williams said he overheard some passersby discussing the decorated van as they walked toward the front doors at Wal-Mart, but few stopped to chat.

"At this point, a lot of people just want to get in out of the rain," he said.

Things were busier at Juck's table, which was at least sheltered from the weather.

"We're doing well," she said. "And we're thankful for whatever we receive."

One lady with an armload of toys to donate was waiting for them when they arrived at around 2 p.m., Juck said. Others have seen the signs on their way into the store, bought items to donate and dropped them off on their way back out.

"When I saw the weather report the other day, I was a little discouraged," Juck said. "But the youth group gets us excited."

The group will take the donated toys to Carter & MacRae Elementary School in Lancaster on Dec. 15, along with 500 sets of hats and gloves being collected through the Lititz UMC congregation, she said.

Juck said the group will accept donations up to the Dec. 15 distribution date. Anyone interested in contributing can contact Lititz UMC or e-mail the group at L.O.V.E.inAction@comcast.net.

"We had an awesome turnout," she said Sunday evening.

"The people who supported us were very generous," she said. "It was special because of the way the economy is right now. A lot of people don't have it. So it was cool to see that people out there were generous enough to spend $5 for someone else.

The group collected more than 60 bags full of "hundreds of toys, games, clothing items, etc.," Juck said. One family donated an entire cartload of gifts.

Still, she said, she was happy enough to call it a day when the event ended at 6 p.m.

"We were all freezing," Juck said.

E-mail: tknapp@lnpnews.com