Jul 9, 2024 2 min read

David Bannon

The fourth annual David T. Bannon Food and Fund Drive is off to an impressive start.

To date, $110,000 and 11,500 pounds of food and essentials have been collected for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

The event runs through July 28. Donations can be deposited into bins located at 420 Parkview Drive in Mt. Lebanon.

The fundraiser is held in memory of Bannon. The Mt. Lebanon High School graduate was living and working in Washington, D.C., when he passed away at age 34 on July 28, 2020.

Though COVID was not the cause of his death, he was hospitalized during the period when no visitors were allowed because of the pandemic.

“We couldn’t be there with him,” Christine Patti told The Almanac when she started the food drive in her son’s memory in 2021. She added that the family was “fortunate” that the Georgetown Medical Center had “many very compassionate” staff members.

“But they weren’t there hugging him and holding his hand. He was by himself until the very end.”

A 2008 University of Pittsburgh graduate, Bannon worked since 2015 as team leader of commercial applications engineering for multinational biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Bannon enjoyed watching the Food Channel, and cooking was one of his hobbies.

Those interests, along with the fact that Patti volunteers with the food bank’s Produce to People program, made sense to do a food drive in Bannon’s memory.

“They’re just wonderful. They’re wonderful people to work for, and anything they can do to help others,” said the retired Mt. Lebanon School District principal. “It’s amazing, the organization they have.”

During the drive, tickets for a basket raffle are being sold from noon until 7 p.m.

The collection concludes July 28 with a daylong celebration beginning at 7 a.m. with a memorial Mass to be held at St. Bernard’s Church on Washington Road.

Activities move to Parkview Drive and will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Kona Ice will be on site, and Bear the Bloodhound will make a guest appearance, courtesy of the Mt. Lebanon Police Department.

For more information on the fundraiser or to purchase basket raffle tickets, call 412-335-4843 or email cdm40@verizon.net.