The Star: June 22, 2023

Some of the celebrities
donated memorabilia: Starr
donated a drum head, Kane
a signed shirt, and Leonard a
framed, signed boxing glove.
Other donations include West
Ham footballer Declan Rice’s
signed shirt, Liverpool and
Chelsea football shirts signed
by players, and tickets to Harry
Styles, SZA, P!nk and Lana Del
Rey concerts.
The items were auctioned
online and some were included
in a raffle.
All of the proceeds went to
Lombart’s Chuffed fundraising
page, which had received more
than $77,000 as of Tuesday
morning.
Lombart, from Sumner, said
she was overwhelmed by the
level of support.
“It’s people that don’t even
know me,” she said.
“I wasn’t a massive Beatles fan,
but I grew up watching Thomas
the Tank.”
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Mum ‘overwhelmed’
TEAM EFFORT: Natasha Lombart’s fundraiser received signed football shirts from West Ham captain Declan Rice
and England captain Harry Kane, which her son Max, 5, was especially excited about. Right – Lombart began
chemotherapy in April.
The show was narrated by
Ringo Starr for its first two
years.
“(My son) got really excited
when I told him Harry Kane
had signed a football shirt for
mummy,” she said.
Lombart’s children, Mila and
Max, are four and five years old.
“(The cancer) has fully turned
everything upside down,” she
said.
Lombart said she was given a
special exemption to leave the
hospital to take Max to his first
day of school.
“You’ve always got to look on
all the blessings that are around.
On the bright side of things,”
she said.
“My children really need
me.”
• To donate to Lombart’s
treatment, visit https://
chuffed.org/project/97265-
boost-for-natashas-battleunite-for-immunotherapytriumph
Thursday June 22 2023 The Star
NEWS 7
Man faces
grant theft
allegations
• By Sam Sherwood
A CHRISTCHURCH man
faces 58 charges in relation to an
alleged theft of over $200,000 in
grant funding.
The Department of Internal
Affairs says the alleged offending
relates to charges of forgery, theft
of grant funds and dishonestly
using a document.
“We aim to ensure communities
receive the maximum benefit
from grants by detecting and
deterring fraudulent activity in
gambling-related grant funding,”
said DIA gambling director Dave
Robson.
The man, who was granted
interim name suppression
following inquiries by the NZ
Herald, was involved both in
the Class 4 gambling sector and
the community sports sector,
obtaining $202,341.60 worth
of grants on behalf of sporting
organisations by allegedly
submitting false quotes and
failing to spend grant money on
authorised purposes.
These incidents took place
between 2018 and 2020. The man
was remanded on bail and is
due to appear in court again on
July 12.
– NZ Herald
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