Mariska Hargitay from “Law & Order” spends a very special day at the beach with famous best friends – see snapshot

In 2004, Mariska Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting victims of sexual assault and violence and raising awareness of the issue.

Through her work as Detective Olivia Benson on “Law & Order” and her own experiences with physical assault, the 60-year-old actress has seriously committed herself to the cause as president of the organization.

For this reason, the foundation has been organizing a beach walk for five years as a sign of solidarity.with Mariska being an active participant and host and being accompanied by several of her famous friends.

This year, Mariska was accompanied by her close friend Ali Wentworth, as well as her law and order co-star Kelli Giddish. Ali shared a photo of them on Instagram and captioned it: “We came. She talked. We left. We support survivors!”

Mariska responded, “You really deserve what you deserve,” while one fan gushed, “Look at the three beauties!!” and another added, “You rock!”

Several more snaps were shared on the foundation’s official page, which also featured Ali and her husband George Stephanopoulos’ two daughters, Elliott and Harper. Mariska captioned them: “A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support Joyful Heart at our fifth annual Beachwalk. Reach out. Connect. Break the isolation. That’s why this Beachwalk is so close to my heart.”

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“Because it is a symbol of community. It is a symbol of unity. And it is a symbol that transcends language, distance and culture. What we are doing here is not just a walk on the beach. We are participating and demonstrating how we will end this violence: Together. And I can’t thank you enough for that.”

The mother of three added another personal message of thanks with a photo of herself before the march, writing: “I am so (incredibly) proud of, grateful for and inspired by my team at the Joyful Heart Foundation. They move mountains. Every day.”

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“Thank you to our amazing Executive Director Robyn Mazur, our dedicated board of directors, and our incredible staff. Thank you to all the dedicated members of GenJoy, and a special thank you to Sophia Schrager for organizing such a beautiful beach walk yesterday (in perfect weather). I am impressed with everything you do.”

In 2017, Mariska penned a letter shared by FabFitFun summarizing why she started the foundation, especially after discovering some “shocking” statistics on sexual assault while researching the role of Olivia Benson.

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“I asked why everyone wasn’t talking about these issues, why they weren’t dominating the headlines and the nightly news,” she wrote. “I talked about the letters I was receiving from survivors sharing their stories of abuse, and how I wanted to answer those letters – really answer them – how I wanted to respond to the suffering they described and honor the brave acts they represented.”

That’s what inspired her to start her own awareness and protection initiative. “I responded with Joyful Heart, with the intention of helping survivors heal and bring joy back into their lives.”