{"id":25553,"date":"2025-07-05T17:16:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T17:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=25553"},"modified":"2025-07-08T19:41:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:41:48","slug":"oma-presents-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/oma-presents-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Outdoor Ministries Association presents Staff Member\/Camp Director of the Year Award and a rare Four Horsemen Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Frank Ramirez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erica Leeds, director of Camp Carmel in North Carolina, received the Staff Member\/Camp Director of the Year Award<\/strong> from the Outdoor Ministries Association (OMA) at an annual breakfast event Friday morning at Annual Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Bear, who presented the award and who presided over the event, commended her for \u201cthe amount of heart and passion that Erica puts into her camp ministry.\u201d He added that, ironically, she was the one who arranged with the artisan for the manufacture of the plaques, without knowing she was getting one of the awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bear noted that there had been no nominations for the Volunteer of the Year award. Instead, OMA would be presenting a special \u201cFour Horsemen\u201d award to Doug and Sally Ruby. <\/strong>The award is named after four Brethren of \u201cthe old guard\u201d who decades earlier had traveled from church to church promoting camp ministries when those ministries were in their infancies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doug and Sally Ruby\u2019s is a love story that began when both were on staff at Camp Swatara in their teens, he as a naturalist, she as a camper promoted to cook staff when one of the cooks had to suddenly become a counselor. They continued to meet at camp for several years, eventually tying the knot and continuing to serve not only Camp Swatara but several other camps across the denomination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Erica Leeds, director of Camp Carmel in North Carolina, received the Staff Member\/Camp Director of the Year Award. Photo by Frank Ramirez<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Frank Ramirez<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Both Doug and Sally Ruby knew in advance they\u2019d be speaking at the breakfast, but neither knew they\u2019d be getting this rarely-given award. His voice cracking with emotion as he rose to speak, Doug Ruby said, \u201cWe\u2019re doing more than surviving. We\u2019re thriving. We have an opportunity at camp to provide a unique quality of care. Boy, this is really different than church. You develop faith in a different way in a setting that\u2019s different from school or church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCamp now serves city kids for whom this is a different way of life,\u201d he added. \u201cWe support that newness, the rich experience.\u201d He remembers one girl saying, \u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve ever been surrounded by trees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sally Ruby smiled as she recalled how she started as a camper at nine years of age. She gives great credit to the writers of camping curriculum. Her favorite was a curriculum based on the Fruits of the Spirit. \u201cThe Fruits of the Spirit are so amazing. If you think how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are a part of everything you do, teaching that to kids at camp becomes such a joy\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCamp is our opportunity to build a child\u2019s faith. We hope that later they are still feeling what they felt at camp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— Frank Ramirez is a retired pastor and a volunteer on the Annual Conference Press Team.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

———-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find more Church of the Brethren news:<\/p>\n\n\n