Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 21, 2014

SECTION B

SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2014

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

“What’s Going On?” 

News and Views from Joan Schmidt

MY HUSBAND, MY FRIEND: 

A Memoir by Neile Adams McQueen 

FOSTER FARMS KICKS OFF “PASS THE PLATE” 
WEST COAST FOOD DONATION PROGRAM AT 
FOOTHILL UNITY CENTER

75 Center families to receive weekly Foster Farms meals as part of event to help feed more 
than 75,000 people this summer

June 19, 2014 – To commemorate its 
75th anniversary, Foster Farms launched 
its “Pass the Plate” West Coast meal 
donation program at Foothill Unity 
Center’s Pasadena location yesterday. 
Local families of four received the first of 
the company’s summer meal donations 
and learned first-hand of Foster Farms’ 
commitment to helping feed people in 
need this summer.

Starting today, Foster Farms will be 
distributing weekly complete chicken 
dinners to 75 needy fami-lies of four 
in each of seven West Coast cities, in 
partnership with local food banks. 
Foster Farms has also committed to help 
feed an additional 75,000 people based 
on consumer participation in its online 
share program. For every “Pass the Plate” 
social media share at Take75.com, Foster 
Farms will help donate chicken for one 
meal to local food banks. 

The company is rolling out the program 
to focus greater awareness on food 
insecurity in the coun-try and encourage 
others to join in helping to address this 
issue. According to a recent modern 
din-ner survey of 2,000 West Coast 
consumers commissioned by Foster 
Farms, more than one-third of families 
are unaware that 49 million Americans, 
nearly 15 percent of American 
households, do not have enough to eat — 
a condition food assistance organizations 
call “food insecure.”

Foothill Unity Center, a partner of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, is the only Los Angeles 
area distribution site for the program. Other partners are food banks in San Diego, Sacramento, 
San Fran-cisco-Marin and Manteca, California; Seattle, Washington; and Portland, Oregon.

“On behalf of our client families, we’re delighted to be a beneficiary of Foster Farms’ commitment 
to giving back to local communities,” said Foothill Unity Center Executive Director Betty 
McWilliams. “This generous donation of chicken dinners with all the fixings will help sustain 75 
fam-ilies we serve with protein-rich meals throughout the summer — a time when parents can’t 
rely on school lunches to help feed their children.”

“Pass the Plate” is part of Foster Farms’ new Take 75 program, a movement focused on encourag-
ing people to take at least 75 minutes each week to get back to basics and enjoy meals with family 
and friends. “As a family-owned business, family is at the heart of Foster Farms,” said Ira Brill, the 
company’s director of communications. “We believe that all families deserve to connect with each 
other over a family meal. If we can play a small part in putting dinner on the table for families in 
need so they can focus on what really matters – time together – then our “Pass the Plate” program 
will be a success.”

About Foothill Unity Center

Founded in 1980, Foothill Unity Center is the primary provider 
of food, case management/crisis help, and access to health care 
resources across eleven San Gabriel Valley cities. As the federally 
des-ignated Community Action Agency for the Foothill Area, 
it operates two locations, in Monrovia and Pasadena, serving 
clients in Pasadena, Altadena, South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, 
Arcadia, Monrovia, Bradbury, Duarte, Azusa, Baldwin Park and 
Irwindale. 77% of clients are at or below the National Poverty 
Level. The number of people it serves has more than tripled over 
the last five years, making community funding contributions and 
volunteer support more critical than ever.

About Foster Farms

Family-owned and operated since 1939, Foster Farms continues 
its legacy of excellence and com-mitment to quality established by 
its founders, Max and Verda Foster. The company specializes in 
fresh, all natural chicken products free of preservatives, additives 
or injected sodium enhancers. Based in the Central Valley with 
ranches in the Pacific Northwest, the company produces fresh 
chicken in or near each region it serves and delivers it fresh within 
48 hours. Foster Farms has long provided community support 
through a variety of initiatives including scholarship programs, 
grants, volunteer programs and support of families needing 
food assistance. It also makes Thanks-giving dinner possible for 
thousands of West Coast families each year through donations of 
Thanks-giving turkeys to local food banks. 

 
Recently, my husband and I traveled to Idyllwild for an amazing 
afternoon with Neile Adams Mc Queen, the “First and Foremost” 
of Steve Mc Queen’s wives. The event was the first of The Fourth 
Annual Idyllwild Authors Series presented by Eduardo Santiago 
& Pen Center USA. It was held in conjunction with the 20th 
Anniversary re-release of her book, My Husband, My Friend: A 
Memoir with a new and expanded photo album. 

 What made the day so incredible were two different things. 
First was meeting Neile Adams and learning so much about her 
and Steve McQueen - their backgrounds, how they met, their 
lives together, the road to stardom and what eventually led to 
their breakup. Eduardo’s pertinent questions brought out so much. 
Neile was born in the Philippines. Her mother, a beautiful well 
known dancer fell in love, but had no idea the father of her child 
was a married man with children of his own. They were married 
in a ceremony, but he returned to his family and Neile never met him. Consequently Neile was raised 
by the kind old man who had also raised her mother! 

 Steve had a similar childhood. His parents may have been married, but his father left home soon 
afterward and his mother couldn’t handle raising a baby. She dropped Steve off at her uncle’s farm. 
His great uncle was strict, but loved Steve, and Neile feels the uncle influenced how Steve raised his 
children. Steve’s childhood wasn’t easy. At one point his mother came for him. She remarried and 
her husband beat Steve. Eventually he went back to his great uncle’s farm till he was seventeen and 
his mother brought him to New York. This revised book has so many great photos, including Neile’s 
second husband, Al Toffel. 

 Neile wrote this book to deal with her grief. Till the day he died, she loved Steve Mc Queen. They 
almost “grew up” together. When they met, they were both young, he was struggling in his career and 
she was a dancer on Broadway. During their marriage, she read his scripts and advised role choices. 
Neile couldn’t fall apart in front of her current husband, Al - she loved him deeply. So she began 
writing in the wee hours of the morning in a closet. Neile also wanted to set the record straight. There 
had been so many untruths about Steve.

 The book is “For their son, Chad, and grandchildren Molly, 
Steven, Chase and Madison and In Loving Memory of their 
daughter, Terry.” Neile also acknowledges her husband Al Toffel 
“For his extraordinary understanding in an extremely unusual 
and difficult situation…this book would not be possible without 
his active support.”

 The second great aspect of attending this event was learning 
about the Idyllwild Author Series, a yearly event hosted by 
Eduardo Santiago at Idyllwild’s Café’ Aroma. The setting is 
gorgeous-outside at the side of the Café’. Everyone is so friendly 
and it’s such a quaint little village with neat stores…a great 
outing. Most have lunch prior to the signing which usually 
is at 3pm. Please visit www.idyllwildauthors.com to see the 
remaining scheduled authors. On Sunday, July 13, 3pm at 
Café Aroma, 54750 North Circle Drive, Idyllwild, CA 92549 , 
Eduardo will interview Josephina Lopez, The Creator of Real 
Women Have Curves and author of Hungry Woman in Paris. 


Foothill Unity Center clients Patricia Moran and 
daughters Izel, 7, and Marisol, 5, will receive weekly 
family chicken dinners from Foster Farms this summer.

Neile and husband


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