TEENAGER Patrick Corker enjoys the same things most 19-year-olds take for granted.

He likes to meet friends, visit the cinema, go for a drink.

The difference between him and the thousands of people his age in York is the lifestyle he has a right to could soon disappear.

Patrick has cerebral palsy. He relies on the senior project run by SNAPPY (Special Needs Activities and Play Provision York) to give him the opportunities most take for granted.

And the project is one which will fold if £60,000 is not found by the end of the month.

"If this project closes, where on earth are the young people who use it going to go?" asked Patrick's mother Lynda, a member of SNAPPY's management committee for the past 14 years.

"People who go to special schools are very isolated. Their school friends live across the city and they often have none who live locally. SNAPPY gives them a chance to meet, but if this closes, they might not have a social life of any kind.

"Patrick is an intelligent, active young man who wants to do the same things any other 19-year-old would. That is all he's asking for, and he has a right to ask for it."

Mrs Corker was speaking after grant cash for the senior and junior SNAPPY projects dried up. The charity has only enough funds to run them until the end of this month and, if it cannot find the money to continue, they will have to close.

That will have a large effect on disabled young people aged between 14 and 25 who use them.

Mrs Corker said: "Patrick has spent the last three years away at college, where he had a very active social life. Now he's come home and, without SNAPPY, he wouldn't have a social life at all.

"Once they leave school and college, there really isn't any other opportunity for these young people to meet friends other than through something like SNAPPY.

"We do things as much as we can together as a family, but there is a point where it is natural that Patrick wants to be with his friends. I don't think that it is too much to ask that he can do these things that he has a right to do."

Since the Evening Press Save Snappy appeal started, organisers have been overwhelmed by individuals who have donated as much as they can afford.

Mrs Corker said: "Whatever happens to these projects, we can assure people that the money that has been donated will be spent directly on the young people."

But the charity is desperate for more substantial donations from the business community.

"Almost every disabled young person in the city has some connection with SNAPPY," said Mrs Corker.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the local business community to support something which the whole city should be proud of."

Donations from businesses can be made to SNAPPY, Burton Stone Community Centre, Evelyn Crescent, York YO3 6DR, or telephone 01904 640562.

adam.nichols@ycp.co.uk