A downtown meat shop focused on helping Chilliwack鈥檚 hungry and hurting had a visit from a provincial MLA just before Christmas.

Tydel Foods owner Brigida Crosbie welcomed Chilliwack-Kent MLA Kelli Paddon into the tiny store on Dec. 18, and handed her a petition with almost 6,000 signatures on behalf of struggling seniors.

The meat shop is a business that Crosbie launched on her pension along with her husband in order to serve the community with the motto: 鈥淧eople over profit.鈥�

She started Tydel Foods years ago out of the trunk of her car, then moved to a shared space in Sardis for a time, before settling into the storefront downtown.

The low-income seniors鈥� program at Tydel Foods has more than 700 seniors registered who get monthly food packages worth $100 for the reduced rate of $50. The shop also feeds about 30 to 35 people a day who are experiencing homelessness.

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When customers shop there, paying regular prices, it helps offset costs of providing the seniors鈥� packages, Crosbie explained to the MLA. But the small meat shop is not a registered charity, and can鈥檛 offer tax receipts for donations.

The other challenge is they don鈥檛 get a break on meat pricing from wholesalers, no matter how much they beg for one.

Crosbie pulled out photos of one of her senior customers, a former nurse like herself, showing images of someone who is painfully thin, with skin stretched across bone. She found out this senior citizen was too proud to ask the Chilliwack Salvation Army for help, Crosbie recounted. But she felt the shop owner would understand her plight.

The petition Crosbie handed Paddon seeks help for local seniors, like the former nurse, who deserve 鈥渢he right to affordable food, secure housing, medication and dignity,鈥� according to the petition pre-amble.

The MLA said it鈥檚 possible her office might be able to help folks out with problems like rent disputes or utilities being shut off due to financial pressures.

鈥淪o this is an amazing place to access a lot of that information as well because seniors aren鈥檛 calling me necessarily,鈥� Paddon explained.

Elected officials like both local MLAs often do 鈥渃ase work鈥� to help people. They may be aware of a certain 鈥減athway鈥� or agency that would best be able to get them the help they need, Paddon said.

Most downtown residents are in MLA Dan Coulter鈥檚 riding of Chilliwack, as opposed to the Chilliwack-Kent riding which Paddon represents.

The MLA said she was leaving with important take-aways from her pre-Christmas visit.

鈥淚 heard two things today that I didn鈥檛 know before that I think are important and I鈥檓 going to share them. One is that everyone needs to shop here to support the people who can鈥檛 afford it,鈥� she said.

The second thing was 鈥渉ow many people are coming in鈥� to Tydel Foods with questions and problems that the MLAs might have provincial avenues through which to support them.

Paddon and Coulter have both been contacted by elderly residents in the area who are struggling to make ends meet with cost-of-living affordability and housing challenges.

鈥淏ut they鈥檙e not calling me on their worst day, at their worst moment, when they need that help. It sounds like they are coming to you,鈥� Paddon told Crosbie. 鈥淪o if I can support you, I can support them, and everyone. You know, for everyone who speaks up, there are many more who don鈥檛.鈥�

Tydel Foods is at 45766 Patten Avenue in Chilliwack.