MOUNT VERNON — Executive Director Kim Whitford failed to get a property exemption for the ACTS food pantry. Little did she know it would lead to a Dollar General settlement payout.
The pantry relies on income from its thrift store and community donations to meet the needs of its clients. Last year, it served 2,046 families, so every dollar matters.
That’s why Whitford worked hard to get an exemption for one of its Wooster Road parcels. She was unsuccessful but resigned herself to the fact and moved on.
She was stunned when she received a check for $4,252.12 earlier this year as part of the settlement.
Dollar General settlement
In 2022, a statewide Dollar General investigation revealed that stores charged customers more at the register than the displayed price. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit, which resulted in a $1 million settlement in 2023.
Family Dollar paid $250,000.
Visiting the pantry on Thursday, Yost said a logistical problem developed when the settlement money came in: Who do you give the money to?
Food pantries were a logical choice.
“The people who shop in these places probably at least once every year shop at a food pantry,” he explained. We’re trying to get the money back into the community.”
Because county auditors are responsible for weights and measures, Yost assigned them the task of choosing the food pantry.
“I had talked to Kim in the past, trying to help her file a tax exemption,” County Auditor Sarah Thorne explained on Thursday. “She was telling me about the thrift store and food pantry, and it’s awesome. So she was the first one I thought of.”
Whitford, who has been with the pantry for 23 years, knows exactly how she will use the money.
The food pantry gets much of its food from the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. However, it is hard to source healthy food.
“With this money, we are going to be able to go to the grocery and buy food for the healthy food program,” she told Yost.
Healthy food choice
Heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are prevalent in Knox County. A 2022 food assessment revealed that 65% of those who are food insecure said they want access to more fruits and vegetables.
Tami Ruhl, coordinator of the Creating Healthy Communities program through Knox Public Health, looked for a pantry willing to adopt written policies on healthy pantry standards.
The goal is to meet families’ specific health and dietary needs by labeling shelves, putting healthy items at eye level, and holding lessons and other educational efforts.
ACTS came on board.
Under the pilot program, pantry staff organize food into categories:
•Green — healthy food that is low in sugar and salt
•Yellow — food that has medium health benefits
•Red — food with a high sugar or salt content
Whitford and Ruhl explained the program to Yost during his Thursday visit.
Yost said visiting the 88 food pantries chosen to receive the settlement money is important for the same reason the case was important to him.
“The people shopping at Family Dollar or Dollar General shop there because they don’t have a lot of money,” he said. “When they mispriced items, these were the people most hurt.”
Yost said he knows many people still will not go to a food pantry.
“But maybe somebody who reads this story will come in and get a meal because they got ripped off at the dollar store,” he said.
ACTS is located at 474 Wooster Road, Mount Vernon. The pantry is open on Thursdays from noon to 2:45 p.m. and is closed on the fifth Thursday of the month. Clients are eligible for food once a month. For more information, call 740-397-1065.
