VandeVoorde with Jack Sparkes (left) and Owen Keefe during a school visit in February.
By Jason Goorman
LocalSportsJournal.com
There comes a time when a goal is bigger than the game itself.
When finding the back of the net clinches a championship, fans go wild as their favorite team hoists the hardware they’ve been dreaming about since they were kids.
While the Muskegon Lumberjacks are working to bring the Clark Cup home for the first time in USHL franchise history, their charitable foundation has also been hard at work to win a different kind of championship.
The Reading Caravan is a special project the Muskegon Lumberjacks Charitable Foundation does to motivate area students to achieve their most important task: Becoming proficient readers.
A great way to motivate young students to read is to give rewarding incentives. Sending Lumberjack players into area schools and having them read to students is the cherry on top kids look for.
With its 15th year now wrapped up, the Lumberjacks’ Reading Caravan has reached more than 100,000 Greater Muskegon Area students since its inception and has done it in over 20 different area school districts.
The giant goal of promoting literacy has been winning the hearts of area youth and keeping Lumberjacks players focused on supporting their community off the ice. It has been a process that’s been nothing short of great.
Jay VandeVoorde is a retired area school teacher who taught for 35 years in Muskegon Catholic Schools and Muskegon Heights. He also coached high school and middle school basketball for a number of years at Oakridge, Orchard View and MCC.
VandeVoorde retired from teaching in 2010 and wanted something to do in his new life. He loved education and always dreamed about writing a children’s book. VandeVoorde figured if he wrote a kids’ book, it was a way for him to still make a positive impact in the classroom. It was a path to bridge his journey from education to his new life outside on the playground.
Because VandeVoorde loved Muskegon hockey, and had a passion for education, It was natural for him to approach Muskegon Lumberjacks’ then-owner, Josh Mervis, about his desire to write a children’s book.
“I went to him (Mervis) to ask if we could do a children’s book,” said VandeVoorde. “I always wanted to do a children’s book about hockey and he said, ‘yeah, what do you need’ and I said, ‘you know what would be neat, is if you could get me five or six players to help me write this book.”
Mervis sent VandeVoorde the player resources he needed to get his book done, and sure enough, the book got written.
“It was neat. For a year, we worked on the children’s book and met with those players. A couple of them looked at me like I was crazy, but we got it done,” said VandeVoorde. “The players helped out and they all got copyrights, Library of Congress numbers and everything. There were three different books we did with the hockey players.”
VandeVoorde had book aspirations in mind when he came up with his plan, but Mervis had ideas for the Lumberjacks’ success, on and off the ice. In order for Mervis to have the chance to win in the USHL, he was required to start a charitable foundation. The foundation had to benefit the community because a successful team on the ice also meant Mervis needed to contribute more than just hockey for fans to enjoy.
VandeVoorde’s aspirations to write a book to help motivate students to read turned into Mervis asking him to get involved with an idea called ‘The Reading Caravan.’
“He came in from Danville and had already established the program there, but needed someone to get its roots growing here in Muskegon,” said VandeVoorde.
VandeVoorde said Mervis’ goal was to make sure area students were given an added focus and motivation to help them with reading. The motivations of Mervis’ instilled a passion in VandeVoorde that has taken on a whole new meaning for him today.
“We go in to promote literacy and we’ll talk to the kids about things like how do you pick books. Well, you find something you’re interested in,” said VandeVoorde. “Whether it’s sports figures, something about history, if you like something that’s thrilling, suspenseful stuff, the kids pick up on that.”
The teachers love the encouragement, especially when it’s the athletes who are behind the message.
“It means a whole lot more to a kid when it’s somebody that is playing hockey and they have their jersey on telling them, ‘you know I read this, I read that’,” said VandeVoorde.
The players cheer students on to achieve success in the classroom by reading on their own time, and VandeVoorde sees a bigger life lesson that is being taught through the Lumberjacks. It is helping kids learn to read, but they are also teaching them about how to be successful.
“We talk about working hard, doing your best all of the time, not giving up, what makes a team work, and that leads to your classroom is actually a team, you work together as a team,” said VandeVoorde. “There are so many things we cover when we go in there, it’s unreal.”
The names and numbers on the back of the player’s jerseys help the Reading Caravan reach its goals for the Foundation, but it’s also helping show the players the important need to give back to the community that supports them on the ice.
Getting in front of kids and speaking in public is also an important skill the players need as they navigate the professional world as future leaders.
“It helps the players to learn how to talk in front of people, an important skill for any leader to learn” said VandeVoorde. “Some of them walk in front and it’s sort of nervous for them, but they always do a great job.”
It isn’t only reading that VandeVoorde, the players, and the foundation helps with. Teachers need added support with topics like overcoming bullying among their students and other obstacles. Teachers need a wide base to connect with student learning and to overcome complex barriers in today’s evolving world, even language barriers. Since the Lumberjacks have international players, the Reading Caravan is even able to reach students who have travelled long distances, to feel right at home with the Lumberjacks.
“There was a girl this year at one of our schools who speaks Russian and was from Ukraine,” said VandeVoorde. “Sheike was at that school and the teachers brought this girl out from her classroom and they talked for like five, ten minutes in Russian, out in the hallway. That’s the little things people don’t see sometimes.”
Lumberjacks’ goalie Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev, called ‘Sheike’, is from Russia and was the player that helped the student feel a little closer to home.
The program also presents rewards as incentives for the students to read. If students hit their reading goals, they are given Lumberjacks playing cards, t-shirts, fidget spinners, water bottles and more. Each fall, thousands of area fourth graders are given a ticket to a Lumberjacks day game and are bussed into Trinity Health Arena to see the Jacks play a game on the ice.
“It’s louder than anything you’ve ever heard,” said VandeVoorde. “Those kids live it up, and for many of them, it’s their first Lumberjacks game they’ve attended.”
In 2023, the foundation spent more than $30,000 for the 20-plus schools and more than 5,000 students it helps support, making it one of the largest charities in the USHL. Funding for the program comes directly from Lumberjacks’ fans through 50/50 sales at Lumberjack home games, private donations from Muskegon area businesses and individuals and their annual golf outing.
The Lumberjacks Charitable Foundation’s 2025 golf outing is set for Friday, Aug. 22 at Lincoln Golf Club in North Muskegon. To be a part of the August event, call Joe Mahon at 231-720-8393.
LocalSportsJournal.com
There comes a time when a goal is bigger than the game itself.
When finding the back of the net clinches a championship, fans go wild as their favorite team hoists the hardware they’ve been dreaming about since they were kids.
While the Muskegon Lumberjacks are working to bring the Clark Cup home for the first time in USHL franchise history, their charitable foundation has also been hard at work to win a different kind of championship.
The Reading Caravan is a special project the Muskegon Lumberjacks Charitable Foundation does to motivate area students to achieve their most important task: Becoming proficient readers.
A great way to motivate young students to read is to give rewarding incentives. Sending Lumberjack players into area schools and having them read to students is the cherry on top kids look for.
With its 15th year now wrapped up, the Lumberjacks’ Reading Caravan has reached more than 100,000 Greater Muskegon Area students since its inception and has done it in over 20 different area school districts.
The giant goal of promoting literacy has been winning the hearts of area youth and keeping Lumberjacks players focused on supporting their community off the ice. It has been a process that’s been nothing short of great.
Jay VandeVoorde is a retired area school teacher who taught for 35 years in Muskegon Catholic Schools and Muskegon Heights. He also coached high school and middle school basketball for a number of years at Oakridge, Orchard View and MCC.
VandeVoorde retired from teaching in 2010 and wanted something to do in his new life. He loved education and always dreamed about writing a children’s book. VandeVoorde figured if he wrote a kids’ book, it was a way for him to still make a positive impact in the classroom. It was a path to bridge his journey from education to his new life outside on the playground.
Because VandeVoorde loved Muskegon hockey, and had a passion for education, It was natural for him to approach Muskegon Lumberjacks’ then-owner, Josh Mervis, about his desire to write a children’s book.
“I went to him (Mervis) to ask if we could do a children’s book,” said VandeVoorde. “I always wanted to do a children’s book about hockey and he said, ‘yeah, what do you need’ and I said, ‘you know what would be neat, is if you could get me five or six players to help me write this book.”
Mervis sent VandeVoorde the player resources he needed to get his book done, and sure enough, the book got written.
“It was neat. For a year, we worked on the children’s book and met with those players. A couple of them looked at me like I was crazy, but we got it done,” said VandeVoorde. “The players helped out and they all got copyrights, Library of Congress numbers and everything. There were three different books we did with the hockey players.”
VandeVoorde had book aspirations in mind when he came up with his plan, but Mervis had ideas for the Lumberjacks’ success, on and off the ice. In order for Mervis to have the chance to win in the USHL, he was required to start a charitable foundation. The foundation had to benefit the community because a successful team on the ice also meant Mervis needed to contribute more than just hockey for fans to enjoy.
VandeVoorde’s aspirations to write a book to help motivate students to read turned into Mervis asking him to get involved with an idea called ‘The Reading Caravan.’
“He came in from Danville and had already established the program there, but needed someone to get its roots growing here in Muskegon,” said VandeVoorde.
VandeVoorde said Mervis’ goal was to make sure area students were given an added focus and motivation to help them with reading. The motivations of Mervis’ instilled a passion in VandeVoorde that has taken on a whole new meaning for him today.
“We go in to promote literacy and we’ll talk to the kids about things like how do you pick books. Well, you find something you’re interested in,” said VandeVoorde. “Whether it’s sports figures, something about history, if you like something that’s thrilling, suspenseful stuff, the kids pick up on that.”
The teachers love the encouragement, especially when it’s the athletes who are behind the message.
“It means a whole lot more to a kid when it’s somebody that is playing hockey and they have their jersey on telling them, ‘you know I read this, I read that’,” said VandeVoorde.
The players cheer students on to achieve success in the classroom by reading on their own time, and VandeVoorde sees a bigger life lesson that is being taught through the Lumberjacks. It is helping kids learn to read, but they are also teaching them about how to be successful.
“We talk about working hard, doing your best all of the time, not giving up, what makes a team work, and that leads to your classroom is actually a team, you work together as a team,” said VandeVoorde. “There are so many things we cover when we go in there, it’s unreal.”
The names and numbers on the back of the player’s jerseys help the Reading Caravan reach its goals for the Foundation, but it’s also helping show the players the important need to give back to the community that supports them on the ice.
Getting in front of kids and speaking in public is also an important skill the players need as they navigate the professional world as future leaders.
“It helps the players to learn how to talk in front of people, an important skill for any leader to learn” said VandeVoorde. “Some of them walk in front and it’s sort of nervous for them, but they always do a great job.”
It isn’t only reading that VandeVoorde, the players, and the foundation helps with. Teachers need added support with topics like overcoming bullying among their students and other obstacles. Teachers need a wide base to connect with student learning and to overcome complex barriers in today’s evolving world, even language barriers. Since the Lumberjacks have international players, the Reading Caravan is even able to reach students who have travelled long distances, to feel right at home with the Lumberjacks.
“There was a girl this year at one of our schools who speaks Russian and was from Ukraine,” said VandeVoorde. “Sheike was at that school and the teachers brought this girl out from her classroom and they talked for like five, ten minutes in Russian, out in the hallway. That’s the little things people don’t see sometimes.”
Lumberjacks’ goalie Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev, called ‘Sheike’, is from Russia and was the player that helped the student feel a little closer to home.
The program also presents rewards as incentives for the students to read. If students hit their reading goals, they are given Lumberjacks playing cards, t-shirts, fidget spinners, water bottles and more. Each fall, thousands of area fourth graders are given a ticket to a Lumberjacks day game and are bussed into Trinity Health Arena to see the Jacks play a game on the ice.
“It’s louder than anything you’ve ever heard,” said VandeVoorde. “Those kids live it up, and for many of them, it’s their first Lumberjacks game they’ve attended.”
In 2023, the foundation spent more than $30,000 for the 20-plus schools and more than 5,000 students it helps support, making it one of the largest charities in the USHL. Funding for the program comes directly from Lumberjacks’ fans through 50/50 sales at Lumberjack home games, private donations from Muskegon area businesses and individuals and their annual golf outing.
The Lumberjacks Charitable Foundation’s 2025 golf outing is set for Friday, Aug. 22 at Lincoln Golf Club in North Muskegon. To be a part of the August event, call Joe Mahon at 231-720-8393.
