Community – Ferrell Marshall

The Gentle Barn

Ferrell Marshall

Supporter

The Gentle Barn is a nonprofit animal sanctuary devoted to rescuing abused, neglected, and abandoned animals and creating a place where both animals and people can heal.

It’s a space built on compassion, presence, and deep respect for every life that enters its gates.

I’ve been a supporter of The Gentle Barn in California for many years and was first introduced to their work by a friend. I’ve had the joy of visiting more than once and have met Ellie Laks, founder, whose warmth and deep connection with animals is something truly special. Together with her husband, Jay Weiner, co-founder and CEO, they have built something deeply meaningful.

Ellie is also a gifted animal communicator, and I’ve had several sessions with her involving my own animals.

Those experiences were comforting, insightful, and deeply affirming, and they expanded my understanding of how much animals have to share when we’re willing to listen.

Spending time at The Gentle Barn is indeed gentle, grounding, and quietly powerful. It reminds you how much healing can happen when you show up with kindness, and curiosity, and are truly present with the animals, something shifts. The sanctuary is home to cows, horses, donkeys, dogs, pigs, sheep, goats, llamas, chickens, turkeys, and even an emu.

The experience is wonderfully interactive. You’re invited to feed the animals, hold them, hug them, or simply spend time with them. Every animal has a name. Every life is honored.

At the heart of The Gentle Barn’s work is healing. Animals who have experienced trauma are given the time, safety, and care they need to recover. Children and families who are also healing are welcomed into that space, creating a powerful exchange where animal and human healing happen together.

I was so delighted to learn that The Gentle Barn has expanded its mission to Tennessee. It is exciting to know that this beautiful work is happening not far from my home.

learn more about the gentle barn

The Elephant Sanctuary

Ferrell Marshall

Supporter

The Elephant Sanctuary provides a natural habitat refuge designed around the unique needs of Asian and African elephants. Its mission is to offer elephants lifetime care and support, advance elephant welfare and conservation, and educate the public about the complex needs of elephants and the challenges they face in the wild and in captivity.

From an early age, I have always had a deep fascination with and love for elephants. I have long been drawn to their intelligence, emotional depth, and strong sense of family. Over the years, I have supported efforts to protect them, including campaigning against the ivory trade and advocating for their safety and dignity.

One of the true gifts of moving to Tennessee is that The Elephant Sanctuary is now just a short drive from me. What I admire most is their unwavering commitment to the elephants’ well being, including their decision not to allow public, in-person viewing. The elephants are not here to perform or to be observed. They are here to live out their lives in peace.

At the same time, the Sanctuary offers a beautiful alternative through their EleCams, live cameras placed in key areas of the habitat where elephants are most often seen. The EleCams allow people to quietly witness the elephants on their own terms, honoring both curiosity and care. That balance of access and respect speaks volumes about the values at the heart of this organization.

learn more abut the elephant sanctuary

charity: water

Ferrell Marshall

Supporter

charity: water is a nonprofit organization working to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Today, more than two billion people around the world still lack access to safe drinking water. Something so basic should never be so hard to come by.

I have been a supporter of charity: water almost from the beginning. I was immediately drawn to the work Scott Harrison was doing and to his origin story. What he has created is remarkable. Through his vision and leadership, charity: water continues to change lives every single day.

One of the things I admire most is how the organization operates. One hundred percent of public donations go directly to funding water projects, while operating costs are covered separately. It’s a simple idea, but a powerful one, and it allows generosity to go exactly where it’s intended.

For my 50th birthday, I donated my birthday to charity: water, inviting family and friends to celebrate by giving rather than gifting. Together, we raised enough funds to build a clean water well in Ethiopia called Ferrell’s Community, now serving more than 350 people. charity: water shares the exact GPS coordinates for every completed project, and you can see where our well is located here: https://www.charitywater.org/projects/122-130.

I was thrilled that charity: water has moved its headquarters to Franklin, Tennessee, just a few miles from me. Their work continues to reach communities around the world.

learn more about charity water

L.A. Works

Ferrell Marshall

Supporter

L.A. Works brings people together as one community to make a difference. Through hands-on volunteer projects and large-scale service events, the organization mobilizes Angelenos to show up for their neighbors, strengthen communities, and create meaningful change across Los Angeles.

My connection to volunteering began early. I was just about to start the third grade when Jerry Lewis hosted his annual telethon and spoke directly to the kids watching at home, encouraging us to decorate a shoebox and walk our neighborhoods to raise money for “Jerry’s kids.”

I was incredibly shy, but I did exactly that. I walked door to door, asking complete strangers for donations, and by the end of the day I had raised just over sixty dollars, which felt like a small fortune at the time.

My mother drove me downtown to the local television station while the telethon was live. I was nervous and wanted to hide, but I was also very proud as I placed the money into the donation box. That experience stayed with me, and I never stopped volunteering.

Over the years, I’ve coordinated countless walkathons and blood drives and raised funds for many causes. Being involved in the community, showing up, and asking on behalf of something larger than myself has always felt essential to who I am.

That lifelong commitment is what drew me to L.A. Works. I volunteered with the organization for many years before being invited to serve on the Board of Directors, where I spent 15 years supporting their mission. L.A. Works doesn’t just mobilize volunteers. It creates connection, purpose, and momentum. Although I no longer live in Los Angeles, I remain a devoted supporter and champion of their work and the communities they serve.

learn more about l.a. works

The Elephant Sanctuary

Ferrell Marshall

Supporter

There was never really any question which elephant I would adopt. Billie and I were born in the same year – 1962 – and she shares the name of my grandmother, Wilhelmina, whom her friends and family lovingly called Billie. How could I not be drawn to her?

Billie’s life reads like a chapter from a story no animal should ever have to endure. Born in India and believed to have been captured from the wild, she was separated from her family and brought to the United States. Like many Asian elephants of her era, she was placed into the performing world, traveling and working in circuses for twenty years.

As a performer myself, that connection struck me deeply. I have experienced such joy performing, but Billie was forced into it. Billie’s journey carried a weight mine never did. After displaying aggression toward her trainers, she was confined for many years, kept in a 20-by-20 stall until she was eventually rescued and brought to The Elephant Sanctuary here in Tennessee in 2006, becoming their 21st resident.

For nearly five years she held onto a heavy symbol of her past: an ankle chain she would not allow anyone to remove. And then, one day, when she finally trusted her caregivers at the sanctuary, she lifted her foot to have it cut away. That simple act, choosing freedom, still moves me every time I think of it.

Today, instead of that tiny stall, Billie now roams a 220-acre habitat, with ponds to swim in, fields to explore, and the freedom to choose how she spends her days.

Billie swims joyfully, explores wide open fields, splashes in her favorite pond, and forms gentle bonds with other elephants. She responds to kind words (don’t we all?). She enjoys every treat. She remembers. She heals. She thrives.

Her full story is beautifully told in Last Chain on Billie: How One Extraordinary Elephant Escaped the Big Top by investigative journalist Carol Bradley – a book I proudly keep on my shelf and recommend to everyone.

Supporting Billie feels like honoring my grandmother, my birth year sister, and the quiet resilience that lives in all of us. I am grateful that The Elephant Sanctuary gives her and so many others the life they deserved from the beginning.

If you would like to join me in adopting Billie and contributing to her care, follow this link.

adopt billie

showing Up

causes close to my heart

I never knew that holding a chicken could bring so much joy and healing.

My love of elephants led me to a sanctuary built around their needs, not ours.

I donated my 50th birthday so more than 350 people could have clean water.

My life of volunteering began with a shoebox and a lot of courage.

meet billie

When I learned we were born the same year, and she had been a performer, I knew Billie was the one I would adopt.

TORI 2025 Award Nominee

TENx9 Nashville Storytelling

CANVASREBEL

I Wrote A Book!

“All My Sons” by Arthur Miller

Michael Laskin Studio

The Gentle Barn

Ferrell Marshall

The Elephant Sanctuary

Ferrell Marshall

charity: water

Ferrell Marshall

L.A. Works

Ferrell Marshall

The Elephant Sanctuary

Ferrell Marshall