For nearly 26 years, Roger LaBelle quietly packed box after box of fresh vegetables before making the trip to the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank.

There were no announcements and no expectation of recognition. There were simply boxes filled with potatoes, carrots, zucchini, squash, and other produce grown through countless hours spent tending the large garden he loved after retirement.

Following LaBelle’s recent passing, his family hopes the community remembers not only the harvest he shared over the years, but the kind and caring man behind it.

“He was a really hard worker,” said Michelle Sanders, one of his two daughters. “My dad was 80 when he passed, but he was still growing a huge garden, and he was always building and fixing things for the neighbours.”

His daughter affectionately referred to him as “MacGyver,” a nod to the television character known for fixing almost anything. LaBelle certainly had a knack not only for fixing things, but for caring for those around him. Whether repairing farm equipment, volunteering for church projects, or lending a hand wherever it was needed, helping others was simply part of who he was.

“He was always helping,” she said. “Whatever was needed in the community, he was there.”

After retiring from his career as a farm machinery salesman, LaBelle and his wife moved to a family farm near Ormiston, Sask., where he helped out around the property and devoted himself to cultivating a large garden of his own.

With more produce than two people could ever use and a belief that nothing should go to waste, LaBelle turned his harvest into an opportunity to help others.

“He brought carloads and carloads of produce to the food bank every fall because he couldn’t eat it all,” Sanders said. “He was at that age where you don’t waste anything.”

After LaBelle’s passing, Sanders and her sister, Monique Atherton, gathered his remaining produce, canned goods, and other unopened food items while settling their father’s estate, later bringing them to the food bank in honour of the generosity that had long defined his life.

“We really felt we wanted to make one more donation of everything we could to the food bank, kind of in his honour,” Sanders said.

The moment was emotional, but Sanders said there was little doubt how her father would have felt about that final donation.

“I think he would have been really proud that we thought to bring whatever we could and carry on his legacy,” she said. “He would have been proud that we continued doing something that meant so much to him.”

Sanders said her father’s generosity was part of a tradition that reached back generations. Growing up in Sedley, Sask., in a family of six siblings, LaBelle watched his own father regularly invite hired hands into their home for lunch, setting an example that stayed with him throughout his life.

Today, Sanders sees that same spirit of generosity carrying forward into the next generation.

“I think my sister and I are both very community-oriented people,” Sanders said. “We’re not going to waste things. We want them to go to people who can use them and need them.”

For the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank, LaBelle’s impact extended far beyond the produce he delivered each season.

“To Roger’s family, thank you for sharing him with us and with so many others,” the food bank shared. “To Mr. Roger LaBelle, we are forever grateful for your dedication, your generosity, and the beautiful legacy you leave behind. Your kindness will continue to grow in the community you cared for so deeply.”

Aaron Walker

Reporter

Moose Jaw Express