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Lachlan Richards has grappled with an ADHD diagnosis, but with help he has channelled his energy into becoming a successful young powerlifter. Now he wants to say thanks to someone he doesn’t know, but who helped him.
A young Kiwi powerlifter on his way to the Powerlifting Junior World Champs in Romania next month wants to thank a woman called Barbara.
Lachlan Richards (22), who moved to Christchurch from Greymouth two years ago, clinched the New Zealand National Powerlifting Championships last year and was placed 4th in the 2022 Commonwealth Powerlifting Champs in November.
Diagnosed with ADHD in 2021 he uses fitness and diet to control his symptoms.
“Sport has taught me the critical skill of patience and discipline to achieve a given task – whether it be mental or physical,” Richards said.
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However, he is desperate to thank Barbara who assisted him through the Variety Kiwi Kid sponsorship programme for more than seven years while he made his way up the ladder.
“Barb used to send me a Christmas box each year filled with food, toys and other gifts, as well as sponsoring me monthly for things my mum was struggling to pay for, like school camp, uniforms and clothing,” he says.
The woman sponsored Richards by paying $50 a month to assist his mother Rachelle with the bills associated with school fees and uniforms, clothing and bedding for him.
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Variety NZ chief executive Susan Glasgow is asking for the public’s help to find Barb.
“I used to write to her about my life each year, and my mum was always really grateful for the financial support she provided to us for the basics.
“It meant that Mum could spend the money she got from the two or three part-time jobs she had all the time on other things like food and bills.”
Barbara also sent him gifts for his birthdays and at Christmas, he says.
Since she stopped sponsoring him when he turned 18 and graduated from the Kiwi Kid sponsorship programme, she has slipped off the radar.
Variety NZ chief executive Susan Glasgow says all contact details they have for her are now void.
Richards has completed a Diploma in Sports Management and Human Performance at the NZ Institute of Sport, and this year his Level 6 Dip 2.
“I am so proud of Lachlan and all he has overcome in his life to be where he is now,” his mother Rachelle says.
“To move away from his family and study was a major decision, and he has achieved so much. It would be wonderful to tell Barb what a lovely young man her sponsored child has turned into.
Glasgow says as with the more than 7000 children the organisation assists with the help of more than 4000 sponsors, the names and details of everyone involved in Variety are protected.
Please email Variety at kiwikids@variety.org.nz if you are Barbara, or know her.
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