With the roses in bloom and the festive spirit strong, the Senate Gardens of Old Parliament House have recently been the scene of some lovely Christmas parties for some of the community's hardest working people.
Canberra charity the John James Foundation was looking for a way to give back to the community sector and provide it with some festive cheer after some tough recent years, especially during the pandemic.
So the foundation has set up a marquee in the stately-slash-relaxed surrounds of the Senate Gardens, letting community organisations use it for free, to hold Christmas gatherings and re-connect with their volunteers and stakeholders.
John James Foundation CEO Joe Roff said it wanted to reward the "doers" of the Canberra community.
"We've gifted it to about 10 of our community organisations," he said.
Roundabout Canberra used the marquee for its Christmas party for more that 100 volunteers on Sunday, in, then, perfect summer weather.
"We never could have found something that was such a beautiful, picturesque, Canberra location on our own," Roundabout CEO Hannah Andrevski said.
"We had the best day. The kids were out on the lawn area playing outdoor games, it was 28 degrees and sunny and it meant we could put on a very special event to celebrate the year, which has been a very big year. It was absolutely incredible."
Other groups to use it include Project Independence, Focus ACT, the Perinatal Wellbeing Centre and Palliative Care ACT.
The marquee was also used this week for an end-of-year celebration for the Canberra Foundations Collaborative, an initiative in which the John James Foundation, Snow Foundation and Hands Across Canberra have joined forces to together distribute grants to the local community sector.
"We'll be doing that ground round again," Mr Roff said.
"I think some of the key messages from the event was the value of collaboration and the impact that community organisations and foundations can have in partnership.
"A lot of these organisations, they just don't get to connect with other organisations and see where they can do things together.
"It's a way for the community sector to overcome some of that protectionism of 'this is what we do' and help them partner with other organisations and foundations."
