There wasn’t a pot of gold at this year’s Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Parade. But for some local charities, it was pretty close.

The parade committee on Thursday awarded $10,500 to each of five area nonprofits from the parade’s proceeds.

Midge Grinstead, executive director at the Lawrence Humane Society, said the donations make a big difference in the community.

“In a bad economy, all the nonprofits are down,” Grinstead said. “This gives us a boost to keep going forward.”

This year, the parade committee decided to give funds to five agencies — the most in the parade’s 23-year history — from money collected throughout various parade fundraisers.

And the community responded, said Roger Browning, parade committee chair. The $52,500 that the parade committee donated to the nonprofits was the most ever.

“A lot of these organizations couldn’t accomplish their goals because the funding isn’t there,” he said. “A special funding source like this really helps them out.”

In the parade’s history, which dates to 1988, nearly $600,000 has been given to dozens of area nonprofits. This year’s recipients were Willow Domestic Violence Center, Douglas County CASA, Family Promise, Van Go Mobile Arts and the Lawrence Humane Society.