{"id":1919,"date":"2023-02-24T18:33:10","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T23:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-iui\/?p=1919"},"modified":"2023-02-24T18:54:04","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T23:54:04","slug":"todd-lands-the-coat-mans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-iui\/2023\/02\/24\/todd-lands-the-coat-mans\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd Lands the Coat Mans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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As Michiganders, we are no strangers to the frigid temperatures that come with living in America\u2019s \u201cWater Winter Wonderland\u201d. We have all had experiences where we, for some reason or another, underdressed and felt the cold a little extra because of it. It is said that clothing is one of the basic necessities for human life, alongside Food, water, shelter and sleep. However there are many people who, during these months, don’t have the adequate amount of layers to combat the freezing conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Out of the 200,000 homeless people in the United States, thousands face complications due to the frigid temperatures during winter and on average, 700 of them freeze to death each year. While the cold isn’t the most substantial contributor to the homeless death toll, those 700 people are a clear indication of how something as simple as a coat can save a life. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Enter our residential Coat Man, Todd Lands, who has collected tens of thousands of coats in his time as a Reinhardt Real Estate Agent. He\u2019s an Ann Arbor local and U-M enthusiast, has a family and children and is enthusiastic about giving back to his community in a number of ways. The Charles Reinhardt Company has collected cleaned and distributed over 35,000 coats total to 31 different social service organizations over its 28 years of doing the coat drive.  Out of the 220 participant realtors who work for the Reinhardt agency, Todd has regularly donated the most coats out of anyone at the company! He is BY FAR the most passionate participant of the fundraiser, and has done so consistently for the last 22 years he\u2019s spent working there! Last year in 2022, the 220 realtors working for the Reinhardt agency raised 1800 coats in total. Todd and his assistant Courtney oversaw 24 donation bins, which yielded them 1300 coats\u2026 nearly a fourth of all proceeds!<\/p>\n\n\n

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You would expect someone with the last name \u201cLands\u201d to fit the bill for a job as a realtor\u2026 and you would be right in that assessment. Todd is a very successful realtor for the Reinhardt agency, having received the Pillar Award for real estate professional of the year in 2004 and being \u201ccrowned\u201d as realtor of the year recently in 2018. He primarily manages the houses in the Ann Arbor Woods area but is known to deal all over Washtenaw county. He is very loyal to his patrons, a super polite guy and an all around pleasant person to be around in my personal experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I reached out to Todd for an interview, he was more than happy to comply and we ended up engaging in fruitful conversation for a few hours. In this time he narrated his philanthropic ventures and experiences, and helped me to define what it means to be an exceptional person in a community. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI feel fortunate to enjoy helping people, a lot of people don’t have passion like that and it’s sad\u201d<\/p>\nTodd Lands<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Reinhardt Coat Drive drive officially goes on during the month of November, <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

however it has been unofficially extended to the end of December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each year before donation time begins, Todd calls each organization partnered with the drive and asks them how many coats they estimate will be enough. Todd says that \u201cIt’s usually a modest number like 40 or 50, and we end up bringing them like 200. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Their need is so much greater than they know.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When asked about how all the coats are managed, Todd said \u201cMe and Courtney take them to cleaners and then distribute to 28 different organizations across the county\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primarily the Saline area social services\u2026 who have received around 5000 coats from Todd alone! Other standout establishments include but are not limited to; The Delonas Center, Ypsilanti Public Schools, and the Hope Crisis Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also mentioned that the hope crisis center, in particular, used to provide; doctor visits and food distribution to those in need. But they haven’t offered these services since the Covid Pandemic Hit. He is annoyed at this decision, almost sounding betrayed by them. Todd thinks that \u201cthey should’ve kicked things into overdrive\u201d in response. With so many people suffering from unemployment and eviction during the pandemic, less people offering services and help to the unhoused resulted in so much suffering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I continued the conversation by asking how he raises so many coats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve collected donations at physical therapy clinics, Washtenaw Community College, the saline rec center, and multiple homeless shelters\u201d. He also advertises the coat drive in local newspapers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the month of November there is usually a bin outside every house with a Reinhart Realtors sign, so if you see one of those bins and have a coat to spare, maybe consider donating!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the yearly collection season, he keeps a bin outside of his house too. Over the 22 years of coat collecting, his neighbors have grown accustomed to donating coats and remembering to drop off a coat or 2 just because it’s that time of the year. He also mentioned that every year he gets people who put canned food in the donation bins he sets up\u2026 which he goes on to donate on top of the coats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI like to highlight funny instances like that\u201d Todd said as a cheeky sidenote<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards, he went into depth on the feeling of joy he gets when handing out coats, and seeing people smile, especially little kids. Detailing that one particular instance of a little kid just saying \u201cThis Coat is for me?\u201d when being handed one, put the biggest smile on Todd\u2019s face. He said afterwards that\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYou’ll get one of those experiences every five years and it’ll be enough to energize you\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The Coat drive isn’t the only thing he does for his community. When I asked him what other things there were, he listed a few things… <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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