Mariska Hargitay (right) and Hilary Swank

DALTON, GA, May 26, 2009—More than 600 celebrities and guests including actress and Karastan 2007 “Statement Maker” Mariska Hargitay attended the Joyful Heart Foundation’s second annual gala fund-raiser on May 5. The star-studded event was held in a New York ballroom carpeted by Karastan.

Hargitay founded the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004 to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues. It was her Emmy Award-winning work on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that drew her focus to the pain and needs of abuse survivors. At the 2009 event, Dick Wolf, creator of the Law & Order franchise of television shows, was presented with a special award celebrating the 10th anniversary of SVU and honoring his role in helping to bring attention to the subject of sexual abuse as one of the country’s most serious issues.

“This is such a worthy cause,” said Connie Berry, director of marketing for Karastan. “The theme of the event was ‘Join the Joyful Revolution’, and we were so honored to be able to do so—for the second year.” Karastan donated the Caribbean blue carpet that set the stage for the fund-raiser.

The Joyful Heart Foundation raised more than $1.3 million during the evening, which included cocktails, dinner, a live auction that brought in more than $400,000 and a guest performance by singer Sheryl Crow. Actors Debra Messing and Christopher Meloni emceed the event.

The gala was packed with celebrity supporters: Julianna Margulies, Marcia Gay Harden, Jill Hennessy, Hilary Swank, celebrity chefs Rachael Ray and Mario Batali as well as Hargitay’s SVU co-stars—Stephanie March, Ice-T, Richard Belzer, B.D. Wong and Tamara Tunie.