Local, state and federal officials gather Feb. 3, 1969, in Mellon Bank in Butler to mark the start of the food stamp program in the county. Mellon Bank was one of the first places that offered the aid. Pictured from left are county commissioners James A. Green, Charles T. Chew and Leon Grant Jr.; John Beiler, assistant vice president of Mellon Bank in Butler; Eleanor W. Ritts, executive director of the County Board of Assistance; and Ray Artz, officer in charge of the Pittsburgh Field Office, U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the background is Ouida Edinger, a teller at Mellon Bank.