Payouts from Dollar General settlement aids Ottawa, Sandusky food pantries

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced the state received nearly $1 million in a settlement he won from Dollar General's price discrepancies in 2023. Yost asked each county auditor to pick a food pantry in their county to award their share of the settlement.

In Ottawa and Sandusky counties, auditors recently announced where those settlement dollars would be going.

Ottawa County Auditor Jennifer Widmer reported she selected the Family Advocacy Center to receive $6,291.

Family Advocacy Center to receive settlement funds

The Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center, in addition to having an emergency food pantry provides weekend and school break food bags to all school districts in the county. These bags are distributed to children that may experience food insecurity while out of school.

“The agency has been providing over 500 bags of food across the county for long weekends and school breaks," Executive Director Connie Roe said. "In addition, the center provides ongoing food support to the schools to be passed to those children that need routine support on the weekends."

"This is huge for our center," Ashley Walterbusch, OCFAC office manager, said. "We're able to serve more children for our weekend and holiday food bags."

Walterbusch said the agency provides the food bags to schools to send home with children who do not have access to meals. OCFAC is now preparing food bags to send to children for the long Presidents Day holiday Feb. 12.

Miller taps Sandusky County Food Pantry to receive funds

Sandusky County Auditor Jerri Miller said this week she was awarding the $6,291 to the Sandusky County Food Pantry in Fremont, which serves thousands of county residents.

"It will be very much appreciated," said Roy Wilhelm, president of the Sandusky County Food Pantry.

"We've had quite an increase in people coming," he said about people being referred to the Fremont-based food pantry. In January, the Sandusky County Food Pantry had 366 referrals and served 1,225 people. Those from the county needing additional food may go to the food pantry once a month, he said. "For several months, we've been going up," Wilhelm said.

Dollar General, a Tennessee-based discount retail chain with more than 980 stores throughout Ohio, displayed prices on its shelves for certain items but charged higher prices at its registers, and failed to correct prices at the point-of-sale to the lower shelf price.

Yost’s office won a settlement in his lawsuit against the company after working with Ohio County auditors, who perform price verification at local stores, according to a news release.

“Most people don’t shop at Dollar General because they have a lot of extra money to spend,” Yost told county auditors at their November conference. “So, when a bottle of shampoo that should cost $1 costs $2 at the checkout, that’s a real thing. And you all brought it to light.”

The money was disbursed to each auditor based on the number of Dollar General stores in their county.

“I am glad Attorney General Yost fought quickly to have Dollar General change their practices and then thought of this creative way to get the funds to the people hurt by the company,” Miller said.

Miller pointed to the auditor’s role as the sealer of weights and measure with price verification as a needed check and balance. Yost praised Sandusky County’s Certified Weights and Measures Inspector Tom Light for his service and attention to detail.

Widmer noted she was happy to be able to assign these funds to an agency helping to feed children all year. The Family Advocacy Center also provides summer lunch and distributed more than 97,000 meals this past summer.

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rbrooks@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Dollar General settlement funds Ottawa, Sandusky OH food pantries