50th Celebration Recap
By Addison DeDeppo, 50th Celebration Lead and Former Site Director
In October 2025, SSP celebrated its 50th year of service in Sacramento, with guests from every era of SSP. It was a meaningful reunion of service-minded individuals who traveled across the United States to be present, and included volunteers, staff and board alumni, and community members from each decade of SSP’s work, spanning the 1970s to now. Throughout the weekend, guests used their “SSP Passport” to navigate events around town, and even win special 50th Celebration stickers by playing “SSP Bingo” – AKA getting to know other guests!
Open House and Happy Hour
On Friday evening, over 100 guests met SSP’s Board and staff, toured the central office, used power tools in SSP’s warehouse, and toured 1,000 feet of recently completed fence projects and art paver installations in the local Dixieanne neighborhood. The evening wrapped up with an SSP T-shirt swap at King Cong Brewing Company, a business neighboring the SSP warehouse. Some supporters even brought shirts from SSP’s 25th year of service in 2000!
Morning of Service
On Saturday morning, guests volunteered with community partners at either Safe Harbor, a faith-inspired tiny home community committed to providing transitional housing to families experiencing fluid living conditions, or the International Garden of Many Colors, a garden that has been tended since the 90s by community members of multicultural backgrounds in an undevelopable swath of greenbelt under power lines. Over 70 guests came out to volunteer, honoring SSP’s history of hands-on service learning while forming new connections across ages.
Celebration Party
On Saturday evening, more than 220 people gathered for dinner, activities, and speeches from past and present SSP leaders. Kelsie Currie, summer staff alum, provided both entertainment and guidance as the evening’s program host. Speakers included:
- 1970s: Rev. Floyd McKeithen and Janet McKeithen, former Executive Directors
- 1980s: Rev. Jonathan Chute, former Executive Director
- 1990s: Rev. Paige Eaves, former Executive Director
- 2000s: Rick Eaton, former Executive Director
- 2010s: Silver Nez Perry, Diné community liaison and SSP Board member
- 2020s: Dani Berg, former SSP Youth Board member and staff alum
- 2025:
- Ken Wilson, summer staff and SSA alum
- Veronica Russell, Director of Engagement and Impact
- Maxamillian Rosa, Director of Sustainability
Visit SSP’s history page to watch videos of each of the stories shared!
The evening closed with songtime, led by staff alumni from the 1980s, 2000s, and 2010s. Between event sponsorships, ticket and merch sales, silent auctions, and our “Build a Toolbox” fundraiser, $62,441 was raised to launch SSP’s programs into the future!
50 Minutes of Movement for 50 Years of SSP
On Sunday morning, some early-rising guests moved their bodies for 50 minutes around California State Capitol Park. We are so impressed by our friends who even ran 5 miles this morning after a late evening of celebration!
Partner Church Visits
To close out SSP’s 50th Celebration Weekend, guests attended worship at local SSP supporter churches in the greater Sacramento and Bay Areas. Some congregations even dedicated their offering to SSP during these services – thank you!
Editor’s Note: We are so grateful to have spent a full and inspiring weekend with the SSP community across the decades. Thank you especially to those who traveled to spend time with us! We hope that everyone who participated in the weekend was reminded that you are what makes the SSP community special and unique.
In case you couldn’t join us or want to reminisce, visit our online store for 50th celebration swag, see SSP’s YouTube for recap videos of the weekend, and check out our shared photo album of all weekend events.