Katie something else that you are
just a huge pioneer of and have been for many, many years.
You run a foundation called
The Jason Debus Heigl Foundation,
and it's your brother who you wanted to honor.
Tell me about that, please.
Well, I really have to, this was my mother's
branding her child, the foundation, and obviously
giving Jason a legacy was incredibly important to her.
My brother was killed in a car accident when he was 15
and he was a huge animal.
And honestly, the innocent and the voiceless were his,
were his thing, he was a huge advocate,
even at 15, which is sort of remarkable.
So the foundation was a way for us to give him that legacy
and do something that we are also passionate about.
And the idea is to really just end the,
the unnecessary killing of companion animals.
So, tell us about Francis.
Francis was one of those cases
that just breaks your heart.
This was Francis after just a few days
at the vet's office, trying to rehabilitate him.
He was found abandoned and badly abused
and neglected in Louisiana.
And we often work with Delta humane
which is a group there and transport,
we will pay to transport animals of high risk
or in real need to our ranch in Utah,
where we can more likely get them adopted.
And Francis was able to get healthy and well and feel safe
at our ranch for a year before he found his forever home.
He is one of our greatest success stories.
Well and please welcome Francis and the Harwin family,
who are the heroes that came in and changed Francis's life.
Hello, Alec, Lane.
Hi. How are you guys?
Really good Drew, Katie thanks for having us.
I'm so grateful to you guys.
France, come here buddy.
Come on, come on buddy.
Look at Francis now.
I mean that before and after is hard to look at,
but it's so happy
because he's such a big healthy lovebug now.
Is he, are you guys so happy to you have such a good life?
He is a great dog.
We love him.
He is so smart.
We have him walking now off the leash, we're training him.
He's just doing a great job.
We're really proud of him.
I mean, he definitely,
I think was a little nervous when he first got here
and you know, and, but we've
we've sort of figured him out.
Katie, I wanted to ask you like
some people are hesitant to rescue dogs
because of their history.
What do you say to them?
Because I mean, look at Alec, Lane and Francis.
I don't understand that really
because I just see love as a opportunity to love.
And I do have a couple that are still
like you were saying Drew, you know that early trauma,
they are a little skittish around people, but they are,
but the fact that I can bring them comfort
and love and give them safety,
the reward back to me is huge.
Their loyalty to me, their love for me is constant.
And I just, I don't know
there's something so powerful about that.
And I, I do often think
that the rescue animals know that you've saved them.
I believe so.
Yeah, their gratitude is abundant.
Lane, my beautiful darling.
How old are you?
I'm 12.
You know, how has your life changed
since Francis came into it?
Well, when we got him
it changed a lot because like, he was really scared.
So we had to do a lot, so that he could feel comfortable.
But he's a lot happier now and I go on walks with him,
and he's just really sweet and we love him.
Well, I just wanna thank Alec and Lane
for joining us today
with that delicious meaty friend Francis.
Thanks guys.
Thank you.
Thank you guys. And Katie,
before we go, can you tell us about,
there are two dogs up for adoption.
We got two of our Heigl hounds of hope right now
at the ranch.
We have Tigger and Marty and Tigger's our old fella.
He's an old gentleman.
He is wonderful and calm and peaceful.
He will go for walks
but at a much more civilized pace, if you will.
And then we have Marty who is just beautiful
and full of life.
He's probably about a year we think.
And he will go for walks at a less civilized pace.
But they are both looking for
that cozy dog bed by your feet.
These are those kinds of dogs.
I have dogs, cats, bearded dragons, snakes, birds,
you name it.
So I'm in. Oh girl.
Please go to TheDrewBarrymoreShow.com,
and we're gonna have Heigl's hounds of hopes there,
so you can take a look at both of these wonderful dogs
that are up for adoption.
"Firefly Lane" is streaming now on Netflix,
and "Fear of Rain" will be in select theaters
and digitally released this Friday, February 12th.
I can't thank you enough for everything.
I can't thank you enough.
(upbeat music)