Worthing mayor receives anonymous donation of £15,000 for her chosen charities, Superstar Arts, Worthing Mencap and West Sussex Mind

The money has been divided equally between Superstar Arts, Worthing Mencap, which runs Buddys café, and West Sussex Mind, which is based in Worthing.

The donation was secured by Melanie Peters from Rocket Social Media & Marketing. One of her clients, who wishes to remain anonymous, was impressed by the work she and Mrs Chowdhury had been doing in Worthing and decided to express their gratitude through a £15,000 donation to the mayor's charities.

Mrs Chowdhury said: "It’s a huge honour to receive this generous gift from one of Melanie’s clients which is to be shared between three fabulous charities in Worthing. Each one provides support and an important service for our community, and they are all incredibly grateful to receive this donation.”

Superstar Arts, based at West Worthing Baptist Church, invited the mayor to the charity's 10th anniversary party. Mrs Chowdhury said it was a pleasure to attend with Melanie and present the cheque to go towards the campaign for a new minibus.

Jo Sullivan, co-founder, said: "It has been a very difficult couple of years for us, so donations like this are incredibly important and make a big difference.”

The cheque for West Sussex Mind was presented at the launch of Worthing Mental Health Awareness Week, on Monday, October 10, World Mental Health Day.

The money will go towards continuing the charity's vital services for people needing support with their mental health, which for some of its service users have been compounded by the current pandemic.

Worthing Mencap said its donation would 'directly support the delivery of the services that positively impact local people'.

Richard Deniese, operations manager at Worthing Mencap, said: "As a small local charity, we provide weekly opportunities for people with learning disabilities and autism to access a range of social, leisure and sporting activities.

"We provide information, advice and support to adults who do not benefit from support via the local authority. We also provide work-based training for people with learning disabilities and autism from our community coffee shop, called Buddys."