When Al Roker's Lend a Hand Today crew revealed that donations worth $2.6 million were in the trucks lining the cul-de-sac at Houston charity Casa de Esperanza, the Wednesday sunrise celebration kicked into high gear. The party may still be going on.

A wish list was fulfilled for the organization that helps children in crisis due to abuse, neglect or HIV.

Casa de Esperanza founder/director Kathleen Foster, staffers and children were marveling over two new vehicles, appliances, toys, mounds of diapers, baby food, clothing, furniture, child car seats, bedding and more after Roker's NBC Today show crew left at midmorning.

In the sea of boxes there were even light bulbs, which Casa had on its list of needs.

This is the 10th year Roker's mission has spent five days on the road delivering goods and supplies to charities.

Casa's haul is Lend a Hand's single biggest donation, but the road trip has two more stops — today in Birmingham, Ala., and Friday in Charleston, W.Va.

"Almost $2.7 million is probably what we gave away over 15 days the first three years," said Roker, who visited Anchorage and Las Vegas before arriving in Houston.

Roker credits the growth of the program to the producers who map the route, research the charities and collect and coordinate donations.

When the project started, he said, they would arrive with a single Penske truck full of supplies. At Casa they showed up with 10 trucks, including a couple of 18-wheel tractor-trailer rigs.

"At the end of the day everybody feels really great about helping. And our best producers say 'Sign me up for next year,' " Roker said. "I love it. It's just a great feeling. It's a rush."

Invitations to a surprise

Casa's Foster was astonished by their generosity. Although she knew Lend a Hand and Roker were coming, she was unaware of the size of the donation and had been asked to keep the event secret.

She sent out an invitation to volunteers, supporters and adoptive families to come to the Casa neighborhood, near the Texas Medical Center, to be part of a special surprise.

By 6 a.m. the playground was filled with Casa fans in purple T-shirts. NBC producers were giving directions as Roker and NBC correspondent Jenna Bush Hager did live shots for the Today show.

Celebrity photos

Special guests including Geoffrey the Giraffe, Clint Walker, J.R. Towles of the Astros and Kyle Lowry of the Rockets were posing for photos. There were donuts on the tables and barbecue on the grill.

Foster also was posing for next to the truck with Roker's face plastered on the side.

"It is just a gift that somebody gives you that changes everything. Our real hope is that this will allow us to continue to change the lives of children and families," she said.

"I think when you started like Bill (Jones) and I did with $500 and you rented a house for $290 and you were putting together cribs with shower hooks and you were propping the dryer door shut with a broomstick - and really we just had a dream that life could be different for children," Foster said. "To remember that and just stand there at the moment that you saw everything was just so overwhelming."

Since its inception in 1983, Casa de Esperanza has provided residential care for 3,500 infants and young children. With community support, the program has grown to include a children's developmental center, a clinic, an after-care/outreach program and adoption services.

Improving children's lives

The new SUV and minivan will replace aged vehicles that are often in the repair shop. "When you are driving late at night to take kids to the emergency room, to have a vehicle that is reliable, that has good tires, that has some longevity, is just wonderful for us," Foster said.

The other donations will be used to improve children's lives. "Working with children who come from generations of poverty, generations of abuse, what we think is the next generation doesn't have to be that way. That's our hope at Casa - the next generation," Foster said.

"I think what people don't realize is when they give time or when they give things or money, that you never know what that allows to happen."

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