In an ever-changing year of a pandemic, protests and wildfires, Mercury News readers showed their generosity like never before. Donations to our annual holiday campaign — which highlighted the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on those already very much in need — set a stunning record of $1,244,232.

That figure is nearly twice the amount raised in 2019, which at the time also was a record. And this year’s tally included a $100,000 gift, the single largest donation in Wish Book’s history going back to 1983.

“The overwhelming response from our subscribers and readers to this year’s campaign is a testament to the giving nature of the Bay Area,” Bay Area News Group Publisher Sharon Ryan said. “I am pleased that we were able to use our voice to help support community members in need.”

It’s clear that the stories about people struggling to make ends meet during the raging pandemic resonated with readers. And that was especially true for Lata Krishnan, the CFO of Shah Capital Partners and founder of the American India Foundation, who made the record-setting $100,000 donation.

Krishnan and her husband, Shah Capital founder Ajay Shah, have been Silicon Valley residents for 35 years and she said they’ve always believed in education and economic empowerment — especially for women and children — and the vital role philanthropy can play in making a difference. The donation is being split among seven organizations selected by Krishnan, who put an emphasis on groups with smaller budgets and the potential for big impact.

“For many years, we have followed the Wish Book series and empathized with the plight of so many here in our backyard,” she said. “In this very difficult year, we just want to do our extra bit.”

Her business background tells her that philanthropy can test new models, utilize risk capital and determine how to derive efficiency and scalability, which can quantify the difference donations make. “That said, sometimes it is important to set aside deliverables and objectives and simply give where the need is the greatest,” she said.

They certainly weren’t alone. More than 2,400 people donated to Wish Book this year, up nearly 1,000 donors from last year. Thanks to Wish Book readers who gave, the 21 nonprofit organizations and programs featured in stories by Mercury News reporters and photographers will all hit their donation goals.

That means that San Jose-based Pivotal will be able to provide more rent assistance and other emergency aid to former foster youth like Jasmine Terranova, the 26-year-old Gavilan College student who found herself sick with coronavirus and sleeping in her car.

It also means the Gilroy Compassion Center will be able to purchase more washers and dryers to do laundry for its clients; Valley Churches United will be able to provide victims of last summer’s Santa Cruz Mountains wildfires with immediate financial aid, as well as long-term help in rebuilding; the Health Trust will be able to continue its Friends with Meals on Wheels program, which provides isolated seniors in Santa Clara County with a friendly face (and a meal); and Los Altos-based WomenSV will be able to keep supporting domestic violence survivors during the pandemic, including $1,500 in aid to Sandy, the woman mentioned in the article.

For a nonprofit like Hunger at Home, which should receive more than twice its $25,000 goal — the assistance will make a huge difference for the nonprofit, which transformed into a full-scale meal preparation and distribution network at the onset of the pandemic. Using two commercial kitchens, and marshaling a team of chefs, food service workers and volunteers, Hunger at Home was preparing 10,000 meals a day for unemployed workers and homeless individuals living in Project Roomkey hotels.

“We are so blessed by the outpouring of support we received from the community in response to the Wish Book story,” Hunger at Home CEO Ewell Sterner said. “Support from so many segments of our community has made it possible for us to distribute 3.2 million meals to our neighbors in need since March.”

Even though a vaccine is becoming available, Ewell said each day they see more and more people lining up in need of food and they don’t expect the need to ebb anytime soon as it will take some time for the economy to recover and people with service and hospitality jobs to be able to return to full-time work.

“We are inspired by people helping people,” Sterner said, “and so many in our community lifting each other up when it’s needed most.”

Share the Spirit, which is Wish Book’s sister campaign featured in the East Bay Times, also had a record year. It raised $482,134, an increase of more than $200,000 over last year’s total. Working with the Contra Costa Crisis Center, Share the Spirit will use the funds to help 21 organizations including Antioch-based ShowerHouse Ministries, Brighter Beginnings in Richmond and the Davis Street Community Center in San Leandro.

As always, the Mercury News covers the administrative costs of the program, so every penny raised goes to the individuals, families and programs identified by Bay Area nonprofits. Tax-deductible donations are accepted year-round at wishbook.mercurynews.com.

The record amount donated this year will be a welcome bounty for the nonprofits and all the Bay Area residents they, in turn, can help, but there’s also an intangible factor that may be even more important this year.

DeAnna Pursai, executive director of the College of Creative Arts, says having the organization featured in Wish Book exposed readers to their mission of providing an authentic collegiate experience to adults with intellectual disabilities. “Something really magical happened this year,” she said. “After the story came out, it was glorious.”

CAA heard from some of their students’ previous teachers and even caught the notice of new funders, including a foundation that donated $30,000 to the organization directly.

“It was a conduit to connect good people with good causes,” Pursai said of the Wish Book series. “Just being able to shine a positive light right now is good for the psyche, and to know the undercurrent of goodness is out there and thriving is essential. It keeps us human.”