A few days ago my colleague Eden Stiffman received a note from a college fundraiser thanking the Chronicle for helping her team “understand that other people are going through the same things we're going through.”

That’s exactly what we’re here to do — keep you connected to other professionals working to advance the common good, especially in this year of challenges to our health, economy, democracy, and social-justice system.

But I hope you know that you are also keeping all of us connected in vital ways, too. As we get ready to mark a full year of operating from our home offices, I asked my newsroom colleagues to share some thoughts about what has kept them inspired. 

Jim Rendon told me that in his reporting he’s “heard stories of deep struggle — people who have lost loved ones and who balance impossible tasks of overwhelming work and escalating home demands.” He added: “More than a few have held back tears as we talked, and yet they remain committed to the people and causes they serve.” Jim’s latest piece on the toll the pandemic has taken on nonprofit workers — and what leaders and grant makers can do to help – will appear online Tuesday.

Emily Haynes recalls the small talk in her interviews that reminds her “how each of us is doing our best to live a full life in a time when our worlds have become so small. “

She recalls that one person she interviewed told her “how she’d dedicated her Instagram page to Elf on the Shelf photos around her house during the holidays.” Another told her “about the leaves changing in Vermont.” And yet another “apologized that her dog was snoring so loudly that the phone was picking it up.” You can read Emily’s latest feature on the wide range of nonprofits helping to ensure vaccines get to the most vulnerable.

Amy Saltzman was especially touched by a conversation with the British philanthropy scholar Paul Vallely. “Peering through his computer camera lens, Paul noticed a black and white photograph on the wall behind me in my home office. ‘You have to tell me about that photo,’ he said. After months of Zoom calls, he was the first person to comment on the photograph.” The picture was of her family when she was 4 years old. Soon, she says, “we were total strangers sharing stories about ourselves and the future and making connections in ways practically unthinkable pre-Covid.”  Read the opinion article that was a result of their collaboration.

And Margie Glennon remembers that a “few weeks into lockdown, I worried about nonprofit leaders on the front lines trying to meet so many urgent needs while figuring out whole new ways to operate and wondered, “How can I help?”" She interviewed multiple experts for her article on “How to Stay Healthy Emotionally During Social Isolation,” but what stayed with her most was the advice of Teresa Mateus, a nonprofit founder who is also a trauma specialist. “The most important thing to do in times of crisis,” she told Margie, “is to be  â€˜gentle and generous’ with yourself. “

I’ve collected more from my colleagues to explain what motivates us to keep empowering you with the information you need to thrive in the recovery that I hope will soon make things easier for you and those you serve. We’ll do all we can to help.