Eden Mencap has launched a fundraising campaign to raise £200,000 Credit: ITV News Border
A charity in Penrith fears it'll be made homeless unless it can find £200,000 to buy its building this year.
Eden Mencap has moved three times in ten years and now faces having to move again.
The charity works with around 80 people with disabilities. It's a place where they can make friends, learn life skills and gain independence.
If it owned its building, it would like to give the users the chance to decorate it and make it their home.
Karl Wilkinson loves gardening. His mum says Mencap's his world. Credit: ITV News Border
Karl Wilkinson from Kirkby Stephen spends almost every day at Mencap, where he's developed a love of gardening.
Eden Mencap needs to buy its building by end of 2016. Credit: ITV News Border
If the charity doesn't buy the building by the end of 2016, the current owners may have to sell the building, which means the charity could have to move at the end of its lease.
Renting doesn't afford them the flexibility to be able to tailor the building for the needs of specific disabilities.
It has had to take down the cubicles in the downstairs toilet because it's claustrophobic for some users, but that means only one person can use the toilet at a time. It would like to transform it into a wet room, with hoists.
The charity cares for around 80 people with varying disabilities. Credit: ITV News Border
