Back in 2004, Mariska Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, a society devoted to the support of those affected by sexual assault and violence and aiming to spread awareness.
Through her work as Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order, plus her own experience with assault, the 60-year-old actress has devoted herself to the cause in earnest as the organization's President.
As such, for the past five years, as a show of solidarity, the foundation has organized a Beach Walk, with Mariska an active participant and host, joined by several of her famous friends.
This year, Mariska was joined by her close friend Ali Wentworth, plus her Law & Order co-star Kelli Giddish. Ali shared a photo of theirs on Instagram and captioned it: "We came. She talked. We walked. We support survivors!"
Mariska commented back: "You certainly do walk the walk," while a fan gushed: "Look at you three beauties!!" and another added: "You rock!"
© InstagramSeveral other snaps were shared on the Foundation's official page, which also included Ali and husband George Stephanopoulos' two daughters Elliott and Harper, and they were captioned by Mariska with: "Huge thanks to everyone who came out to support Joyful Heart on our 5th annual Beachwalk. Reach out. Connect. Break isolation. That's why this Beach Walk has become so dear to me."
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"Because it's a symbol of community. It's a symbol of togetherness. And it's a symbol that transcends language and distance and culture. What we're doing here isn't just a walk on the beach. We're participating in and demonstrating how we're going to bring this violence to an end: Together. And I can't thank you enough for doing this."
© InstagramThe mom-of-three added another personal message of gratitude with a photo of herself ahead of the walk, writing: "I'm so [incredibly] proud of, grateful for and inspired by my team at the joyful heart foundation. They move mountains. Daily."
"Thank you to our magnificent executive director Robyn Mazur and to our committed board and our incredible staff. Thank you for all the dedicated members on GenJoy and special thank you to Sophia Schrager for organizing such a beautiful beach walk yesterday (including perfect weather) I am in awe of all that you do."
© InstagramIn 2017, Mariska penned a letter shared by FabFitFun that encapsulated why she created the foundation, especially after uncovering some "staggering" statistics surrounding sexual assault while researching for the role of Olivia Benson.
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"I was asking why everyone wasn't talking about these issues, and why they weren't dominating the headlines and the evening news," she wrote. "I talked about the letters I started receiving from survivors disclosing their stories of abuse, and about how I wanted to answer — really answer — those letters, how I wanted to address the suffering they described and honor acts of courage they represented."
That was what inspired her to start her own initiative to educate and protect. "I answered with Joyful Heart, with the intention of helping survivors heal and reclaim a sense of joy in their lives."
