Superstar Arts charity shop in Worthing flooded twice

Superstar Arts’ charity shop in Worthing was severely damaged when it was flooded during the night following a leak from upstairs.

And the charity was dealt another blow this week when a second leak caused even more damage to the building, pushing back the organisation’s hopes of reopening.

Jo Sullivan, managing director of Superstar Arts, said it was a “nightmare” and could see the charity, which provides creative educational projects and work experience for people with learning disabilities, lose more than £5,000.

The state of the charity shop after it was hit by another leak this week

“The water was just pouring through into the shop and clearly it had been for quite some time,” she said.

“The damage was substantial; the leak was very serious, and we couldn’t salvage anything.

“We’ve lost 80 per cent of our stock.”

Superstar Arts has only had the charity shop for a year and a "huge" amount of effort went in to making the unit a safe and welcoming space for customers and service users, who work in the shop for valuable experience.

The abrupt closure of the shop has caused much upset for users

“It’s taken us till now to get it looking brilliant,” said Ms Sullivan.

“We put a huge amount of work into it to make it look good and to also make it a space where our adults with learning disabilities could sell their hand made products.

“It wasn’t just a charity shop; it was also an outlet for the things that they make.

“It was also a place where our guys can do work experience.”

Ms Sullivan said the abrupt closure of the shop had upset many users of the service and there are fears the leak could strike the shop again in the future.

“Some of our guys are autistic and their routine has been really disrupted,” she said.

“It’s been very upsetting.”

Water "poured" from the ceiling

A fundraising appeal has now been launched by the organisation to cover loss of revenue and staff wages.

Almost £2,000 has been raised of the £4,860 target so far.

“The damage to the building will be covered by the agent’s building insurance,” said Ms Sullivan.

“Our insurance covers the fixtures and fittings.

“But neither covers our daily loss of earnings or staff wages.

“We’re such a small charity with such narrow financial margins we really relied on that income.

“We were building up a really good business and now we’re losing £200 a day.

“It’s really disheartening.”

The shop in happier times before the leaks

But Ms Sullivan said her faith had been “restored” after the "amazing" response from the community, with residents donating and also purchasing items from Superstar Arts' website.

“Everyone has been really supportive, which has really helped,” she said.

“It really restores your faith in humanity when the community rallies to help.”

To donate visit localgiving.org/appeal/flood/