Munchausen Charity syndrome.

stoneill · 14-04-2013 8:14am #1

There is this guy that I know. He raises a lot of money for various different charities. Just to clarify that he is not a friend of mine, just someone I know to see. He works in the same place as me as well as living in the same locality.
I always admired his efforts at charity work, fair play for giving up his time, raising much needed funds for deserving causes, he seems to devote a lot of his spare time to helping other who are less fortunate.
That was until lately when I saw him actively sabotage the charity efforts of another person.
He did not know I witnessed him bullying a young teenager out of “His Spot” at a church collection a few weeks back. I figured that perhaps there are designated spaces and the kid was in the wrong one.
I learnt later that there are no designated spaces when I was involved in a bucket campaign outside the same church some weeks later.
But then I hear he is on the selection committee for corporate charities and he will preferentially pick his charities and veto other, perhaps more deserving charities. Example, this year a school in Haiti was picked over ISPCC anti-Bulling campaign. Both deserving, but I would feel that a home charity pips an away cause. There were other decisions similar to this over the years.
There was an article in the local paper some weeks back reporting on his fundraising efforts.
Over €7,000 raised for Suicide prevention and counselling, with a nice photo with him shaking hands handing over the cheque to a grateful recipient. Except, he didn’t raise that money.
Other people did. He just managed to convince the facilitators at the event the he should be the one in the photo.
So this got me wondering if he has some type of Munchausen syndrome where the charity is not the important issue, but that he needs to be seen as a fundraiser, at all costs and that anyone who takes from his limelight is a threat and is taking away from his self-aggrandisement.

A fella called fish · 14-04-2013 8:23am

Either that - or - he's just a b0llix..

shedweller · 14-04-2013 8:29am

He sounds like a horrible annoying arsehole! He prob takes a cut from the collection too.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 14-04-2013 8:54am

Populist gobsh1te, he doesn't give a rats's ass about the charities.

A sad individual, you should watch out for him, one of these he'll hang a noose around his neck, no more false love..

Rasheed · 14-04-2013 9:02am

You sure you don't need a designated weekend to collect at a church gate?

Maybe it's just our locality, I used to collect for an organisation and we had to get a special permit to say this was our weekend.

Anyway your man sounds like a class A bollox. People will see through him eventually.

doubleyoubee · 14-04-2013 9:02am

We should have a whip round for him and then let him present the oversized cheque to himself.

He'd be like a dog with two mickeys.

Handsome Bob · 14-04-2013 9:05am

stoneill wrote: »

There is this guy that I know. He raises a lot of money for various different charities. Just to clarify that he is not a friend of mine, just someone I know to see. He works in the same place as me as well as living in the same locality.
I always admired his efforts at charity work, fair play for giving up his time, raising much needed funds for deserving causes, he seems to devote a lot of his spare time to helping other who are less fortunate.
That was until lately when I saw him actively sabotage the charity efforts of another person.
He did not know I witnessed him bullying a young teenager out of “His Spot” at a church collection a few weeks back. I figured that perhaps there are designated spaces and the kid was in the wrong one.
I learnt later that there are no designated spaces when I was involved in a bucket campaign outside the same church some weeks later.
But then I hear he is on the selection committee for corporate charities and he will preferentially pick his charities and veto other, perhaps more deserving charities. Example, this year a school in Haiti was picked over ISPCC anti-Bulling campaign. Both deserving, but I would feel that a home charity pips an away cause. There were other decisions similar to this over the years.
There was an article in the local paper some weeks back reporting on his fundraising efforts.
Over €7,000 raised for Suicide prevention and counselling, with a nice photo with him shaking hands handing over the cheque to a grateful recipient. Except, he didn’t raise that money.
Other people did. He just managed to convince the facilitators at the event the he should be the one in the photo.
So this got me wondering if he has some type of Munchausen syndrome where the charity is not the important issue, but that he needs to be seen as a fundraiser, at all costs and that anyone who takes from his limelight is a threat and is taking away from his self-aggrandisement.

There's plenty of them about who are all about the photo ops while being clueless about the plight of the people they are supposedly helping.

mikemac1 · 14-04-2013 9:18am

There shouldn't be two organisations having a church gate collection on the same weekend

Around here you have to apply for this and you'll only get two weekends per year at most.

Lyons club or SVDP might get an extra slot coming up to Christmas, political parties would not

To have two charities outside a church is just asking for conflict, someone in the parish messed up

discus · 14-04-2013 9:28am

Great thread OP. I've always been convinced that certain people who appear in newspapers constantly, always seen pushing a charity cause are nothing but ego driven arseholes. The worst are the ones who actively make a living off it, being on countless committees.

stoneill · 14-04-2013 9:49am

mikemac1 wrote: »

There shouldn't be two organisations having a church gate collection on the same weekend

Around here you have to apply for this and you'll only get two weekends per year at most.

Lyons club or SVDP might get an extra slot coming up to Christmas, political parties would not

To have two charities outside a church is just asking for conflict, someone in the parish messed up

Just to clarify - he bullied the young lad out of the prime spot for maximum expose to people leaving - not two separate charities

Rasheed · 14-04-2013 9:53am

stoneill wrote: »

Just to clarify - he bullied the young lad out of the prime spot for maximum expose to people leaving - not two separate charities

Oh I understand you now. He just wanted to be the one bringing back the heaviest bucket. Tosser.

NuckingFacker · 14-04-2013 10:17am

Does he wear tracksuits and say "now then now then" a lot? Jimmy Savilles ghost could have posessed him in an effort to continue his good/bad works.

Shint0 · 14-04-2013 10:17am

Are you sure it's entirely voluntary? He might be getting paid or expenses from some charities as a community fundraiser.

stoneill · 14-04-2013 10:20am

It should be voluntary, if he's getting expenses then he's an even bigger bollix that I though he was.

stateofflux · 14-04-2013 10:23am

the charity situation in ireland is crazy. there is nothing to stop anyone creating a phony charity and collecting thousands. this does not even need to be accounted for. the charities act was supposed to regulate this but it still has not arrived yet.

Chop Chop · 14-04-2013 10:51am

OP, this fella sounds like a self absorbed príck altogether, I get the feeling he's not doing it for charity at all, but more for self gratification and serious want from people.

Sounds like a right attention seeker.

Scruffles · 14-04-2013 3:43pm

OP,
munchausens syndome [whether by proxy or not] isnt any way relateable to the situation, its quite a learned behavior where disturbed people will fake disabilities or sicknesses to gain pity and attention,they usualy believe they were neglected/not given enough attention when young [may be true,may be imagined by them],this shapes the way they learn how to gain attention-they will go around as many different doctors as possible to get the labels they want and to make sure their faking doesnt get found out plus they are easy to tell the difference between them and a genuine suffer of what theyre faking- genuine sufferers feel very uncomfortable with pity and sympathy and shy away from it whereas they will atract it like a magnet.
it is most commonly seen on support forums/the internet as it gives them a bigger catchment to destroy the trust of others they fraud and needs little if any proof of what they say,have been at the recieving end of a very prolific and toxic munchausens user!

the person described sounds very self centred,egotistical...its very possible to have faults/weaknesses without having any significant and specific disorder.

orestes · 14-04-2013 3:50pm

How has this got anything to do with munchausen syndrome? Munchausen syndrome is pretending to be sick/ill/injured/diseased to get attention and sympathy and is a distinct psychological disorder, not just being an attention seeker.

14-04-2013 4:07pm

stoneill wrote: »

]He just managed to convince the facilitators at the event the he should be the one in the photo.

At a guess I'd say that his charity work brings him praise, recognition, validation, and he probably doesn't have anything else he's good enough at that brings him that sort of positive attention.

It certainly started as a selfless endeavour, but has wound up as something where the ego boost is the primary source of the satisfaction, not the helping of others. The actual charity is secondary to the praise.

He's probably not a bad guy, and ultimately people are benefiting from his insecurity so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I wouldn't choose him as a friend though, he sounds selfish and needy and that would drive me crazy.

Corkbah · 14-04-2013 4:12pm

cant believe its the second page and no-one has suggested that maybe he is pilfering a little ....what has happen to AH ?? wheres the cynicism ?

shopaholic01 · 14-04-2013 4:33pm

Corkbah wrote: »

cant believe its the second page and no-one has suggested that maybe he is pilfering a little ....what has happen to AH ?? wheres the cynicism ?

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