As this year comes to a close, we went through a fun exercise of figuring out our nine most memorable stories and events.  Without further ado, here’s our 2017 Best Nine:

Best Mention in the NewsThe Guardian article highlighted results from our study that found 26.8% of the Silicon Valley population qualify as ‘food insecure.’

Best Celebrity Endorsement – We were super fortunate to have photographer and influencer Ben Von Wong volunteer and use his talents to put a spotlight on child hunger in our When Hunger Hits campaign. When George Takei took it a step further and shared Von Wong’s video with his millions of followers, we are absolutely floored!

Best Facebook Live Broadcast– Many were surprised and delighted to watch us food bankers don costumes and bust our moves during a Facebook live broadcast on Giving Tuesday.

Best Use of Turkey Costume – Cindy McCown, our Vice President of Community Engagement and Policy, rappelled down the Adobe Building in a turkey costume. True story.

Best New Hashtag For Us – How pumped are all of us at Second Harvest to help our community through our work? #totespumped

Best ‘No ‘I’ in “TEAM”’ Effort – Unfortunately, 2017 saw many natural disasters across the country. A network of food banks came together to provide much needed food for disaster relief to area food banks, like Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa.

Best Story from the Field – Sometimes calling the wrong number ends up being the right call. In this year’s most popular story from the field, Food Connection Hotline Specialist Quy shares how she helped connect a senior to food programs that he didn’t know he was qualified for.

Best Little Hunger Fighter – Every donation counts, no matter the size of the donation or the size of the donor! Check out Jack, our lemonade-selling champ!

Best Auction Benefiting Second Harvest – Who wouldn’t want to bid on a VIP experience at CES 2018 in Las Vegas? The winning bid was $25,000. Thank you Intel!