About Me
My name is Erika Shapiro. I am from Memphis and moved to Nashville with my college roommates after graduating from Rhodes College. By God’s grace, I got a job as a middle school youth director at a local church, and I loved serving there with youth and families for the next 8 years. During that time I met my husband, Jeremy, and we started our own family. While I was home with our 3 small children, I longed to be able to do youth ministry in a way that did not fully take me away from them but integrated them into the joy it is to have youth involved in our lives. It is from that longing that God grew the story of Camp Watermelon, which began with 12 campers and 4 tween counselors in the summer of 2013. Currently, now that our youngest child is ready for full-time school himself, I teach four year olds at St. Paul Christian Academy.
About the Counselors
Our counselors are youth that we have pre-existing relationships with either from church, school, or friendship within the community. Many of them have been part of Camp Watermelon since it started and all of them are people that we trust in the presence of our own young children. In fact, we hope our children are watching these young adults closely because we know their voices in our kids' lives have beautiful impact on them (and on us!). The counselors have been incredible at loving the children at Camp Watermelon well. They are young men and women who are passionate, fun, playful, kind, and wise, and they stir our expectation and excitement about what is possible when we gather our hearts and energy around a God-honoring mission. We truly believe that the ways the counselors pour themselves out so faithfully make the Camp Watermelon experience unique. We also think it's beautiful that so many schools are represented by the counselor team. Serving alongside them is a blessing, and we trust your kids will be blessed by them too!
About RuRu and Ms. Ann Marie
It goes without saying that hosting a day camp out of your home requires a lot of extra support, and RuRu and Ann Marie are very much the bones behind a lot of what happens at Camp Watermelon. RuRu is my mom, and she travels to Nashville to spread her Mother Goose magic all over us during camp. She pulls a charade out of no where when most needed, makes sure the kitchen crafts are prepared and well-executed, stays up late with me crafting for the next day's fun, and is also the only reason the Shapiro children are dressed in clean clothes or have allergy friendly lunches. She is also in charge of praying for the weather and for safety. Ms. Ann Marie is a dear friend who daily gives herself to camp and is the machine behind all of the campers' creations going home in the right hands. She is an adult presence in the creek during our adventure there and can catch crawdads as big as lobsters while on duty in the stream. She cuts watermelon slices and popsicle tops with perfect precision, and is always available for any after-hours errands to help prepare for the next day. Ann Marie helps keep us organized, cleans up multiple messes all day long, and somehow also loves all the campers in the process. I treasure the way these two ladies hold the story and the purpose of Camp Watermelon in their hearts, and I love serving with them.