In the "home of the Australian soldier" at Wagga Wagga, a wellness centre for veterans and first responders is working hard to maintain its place.
The Pro Patria Centre in regional NSW set out to raise $1.5 million in six months to buy its rented site at Ashmont, a former Carmelite monastery.
Nuns set the generous price-point to pass the site on to Pro Patria, but it faces falling short of the goal and having to instead pour future donations back into a loan to secure the property.
Pro Patria needs to raise another $400,000 in a matter of weeks to keep the site in the Riverina community's hands.
The centre is vital to Wagga Wagga because it is the only facility offering veterans and first responders medical treatment, along with holistic therapies, negating the need for people to travel to Sydney, Canberra or Melbourne.
Almost 500 veterans and first responders gained referrals to vital services through the centre last financial year, Pro Patria Centre board member Jacqui Van de Velde said.
"When you walk in the door, you know the people here understand your situation and you don't have to keep repeating your story," she told AAP.
"There's just that level of understanding and acceptance. That's big."
Pro Patria director James Read says the centre was set up by veterans who saw too many of their colleagues die by suicide, and filled a gap in well-intentioned but lacking government services.
Another director of the volunteer-run Pro Patria, Jason Frost, says he owes his life to the medicinal cannabis and ketamine infusion therapies he received because of the centre.
He said Pro Patria intended to expand its services to offer on-site addiction specialists, psychologists, Open Arms peer workers, NDIS and social work appointments.
"I was diagnosed with a chronic spine injury, PTSD and adjustment disorder, then later traumatic brain injuries and major depressive disorder," Mr Frost said.
"I spent years on strong combinations of pharmaceutical drugs, which had catastrophic side-effects."
He believes current treatments lead to isolation, addictions and suicide.
"What we are developing here is a centre of excellence for co-ordinated medical, holistic health care and wellbeing for veterans, first responders and their families," Mr Frost said.
Ms Van de Velde says the Ashmont site is a place of immense historical, cultural and spiritual significance for the people of Wagga Wagga, and that losing it is "not an option".
She said people who wanted to donate to the centre could do so on the Pro Patria property trust's website.
Lifeline 13 11 14
Open Arms 1800 011 046
