![The day center couldn't afford a new roof. In September, it closed one of its residential homes because "there was no way [they] could make those major repairs."](https://media.wbir.com/assets/WBIR/images/6852f668-f0e5-46f8-b102-652f1c530421/6852f668-f0e5-46f8-b102-652f1c530421_1920x1080.jpg)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Sharon Earl brings the buckets out every time it rains. She said the roof at the Cerebral Palsy Center in North Knoxville has leaked for more than a year.
"When it rains in here, it just looks like a waterfall coming down," Earl said. "[Another section] is ready to collapse at any moment."
She said the lowest estimate they got to repair the roof was around $40,000. The CP Center doesn't budget for major repairs such as this, she told 10News.
"We're a very small nonprofit, very limited funding and we could not come up with $40,000," she said. "We could not afford to replace the roof."
In September, 10News reported on one of its residential homes that abruptly closed for "financial reasons." State documents obtained by our investigative team later detailed the "dangerous" living conditions of the home.
"That center got so out of hand and the repairs became enormous," Earl said. "Being a small nonprofit without a lot of funding, there was no way that we could make those major repairs."
The day program off Woodland Drive hosts 30 to 35 adults with cerebral palsy. Earl said they could have been at risk of closing without the community stepping in to help.
David Barnett of Barnett Roofing offered to replace the roof for free.
"This is a very, very bad roof. It's been patched hundreds of times by handymen," he said. "When you have a roof that's constantly wet inside and never dries out, it ends up getting moisture in there all time condensation and then it turns into mold."
He said that wasn't the only problem.
"Very large families of squirrels were living in there at one time," he said. "So all that material was probably eventually coming into the offices downstairs too."
On Monday, his team started tearing off the old roof so they could make room for a new one.
"For us, it's just another job. To them, it's a huge thing," Barnett said. "This is what we do a lot in Knoxville."
The Cerebral Palsy Center hopes the structural problems will soon be behind them.
"It was a huge blessing to hear him say that because we were so worried about what we were going to do," Earl said. "We really need to be here for our clients and for our families."