The gift was a vase.
It was handmade from small pieces of tissue paper, carefully layered until they resembled stained glass. One of Stacey Steele’s WISE scholars created it after learning that Stacey’s father had passed away.
“These kids are just so grateful for every little thing,” Stacey says. “Here is an individual growing up without their own father, and he is worried about me and how I am feeling.”
That single act of kindness reveals more about Stacey than any award, partnership or public recognition ever could.
For Stacey, philanthropy is deeply personal.
She was born in Quebec, and spent her early childhood on a 500-acre dairy farm before her family moved to Ontario. Her days began with chores before school and ended with more when she returned home. Hard work was expected, but so was helping others.
“My parents are the hardest workers you could ever look up to as role models.”
Her mother organized church bake sales and prepared everything from scratch. Her father repaired neighbors’ vehicles without charging them. Helping was simply what their family did.
Stacey was especially close to her father, who affectionately called her the apple of his eye until his death in April.
“He had the biggest influence on how I lead,” she says.
That influence followed her far beyond the farm.
As a little girl, Stacey dreamed of becoming a flight attendant. Beginning at 16, she balanced modeling with two or three jobs, saving enough to start traveling independently at 19.
“No matter what country I was in, I would find out what I could do while I was there to help.”
Her life changed during a Sunday afternoon at a theater in downtown Toronto. Stacey was attending a performance with one of her closest friends. Michael Steele was seated in the same row with his two daughters. Each time Stacey and her friend needed to pass, Michael jokingly greeted them with, “You two again?”
Small talk turned into a conversation about business. At the time, Stacey worked for one of Canada’s largest food companies, and Michael had sold several of his food businesses to the same company. He knew the owners, her boss and many of the people in her professional orbit.
Soon, the conversation became coffee. Coffee became a relationship. And their shared belief in using what they had to help others became the foundation of a life built around giving.
By the time Stacey met Michael, his connection to Arizona already stretched back decades.
More than 45 years ago, as a young entrepreneur just out of university, Michael came to the Valley through the construction industry. At the time, Gainey Ranch was still largely open land. He sat in Daniel C. Gainey’s living room discussing the work that would help transform the property into the community known today.
From there, Michael’s imprint across Arizona continued to grow. His companies contributed to major projects including Gainey Ranch, the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort, the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, The Phoenician and other defining hospitality properties throughout the Valley. His work extended nationally and internationally, including projects connected to Dallas Cowboys Stadium, the Toronto SkyDome, Globe Life Field, Marriott, Fairmont and Four Seasons properties around the world.
The stories behind those developments are now woven into Valley history.
Stacey recalls that some of the stone used at the Hyatt had originally been intended for an Arizona prison project. When that contract fell through, the material found a very different home at the resort. To this day, she and Michael still notice it when they visit.
Long before Gainey Ranch became one of Scottsdale’s most recognizable communities, Michael believed in its potential. As a young man with limited resources, he maxed out his credit cards to purchase three lots for $5,000 each.
He was not simply investing in the Valley. He was helping build it.
Yet for all that Michael constructed, the legacy he and Stacey value most is not measured in buildings. It is measured in lives.
The Steele Family Foundation was formally established in 2007 in honor of Michael’s parents, Agnes and Thomas Steele, and the values they passed down to their family.
Thomas had been injured while serving during World War II and received care in India. His experience left him with a lifelong appreciation for the people who helped him recover and a conviction that education could change lives. When he once asked Mother Teresa how he could repay the kindness he had received, her answer stayed with the family: “Educate my people.”
Michael never forgot it.
After his father’s death and as his mother’s health declined, Michael sold the family’s sheep farm in Ontario so Agnes could move closer to medical care. With his parents’ wishes guiding him, he began building schools in India, starting with land donated through the Catholic Church.
Stacey joined Michael in that work soon after they met. What began as his family’s promise became their shared purpose.
“When you are blessed so much in your life by the gifts you have, it comes to a point where you need to share those gifts,” Stacey says. “That is what we were taught by both of our parents.”
The Steele Family Foundation’s work now reaches across education, grassroots assistance, homelessness, hospice care and addiction recovery. Its impact stretches from the United States and Canada to India, Africa, Europe and the Dominican Republic.
But Stacey was never content to remain a distant benefactor.
She wanted to know the students. She wanted to understand their obstacles, follow their progress and build something that supported them long after a scholarship was awarded.
Enter the WISE Scholarship Program.
WISE, which stands for World Impact through Scholarships and Education, is Stacey’s brainchild. She created it for the “stranded superstar,” a young person with the talent and determination to succeed but without the resources, guidance or support to reach their potential.
“They are students who have so much potential, but do not have the means or the support they need.”
WISE is intentionally different from a traditional scholarship. It does not simply provide a check and send a student on their way. Its Earn to Learn model allows participants to accumulate points toward scholarship dollars through academic achievement, extracurricular involvement, non-formal educational experiences, references and personal growth.
“Students begin participating in the ninth grade. Over four years, the program tracks their development while providing mentorship, career guidance, psychometric assessments, mental wellness tools and individualized support. The digital platform remains available to participants as they continue into postsecondary education and adulthood.”
In Arizona, WISE partnerships include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, the just keep livin Foundation and Grace Sober Living.
The just keep livin Foundation brought Stacey and Michael into a meaningful partnership with Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves McConaughey. Both foundations share a commitment to helping young people stay active, healthy, supported and connected to positive opportunities after school.
“Matthew and Camila are two of the most humble, kind souls. They are very understanding, giving, and truly want to help kids.”
Through the partnership, young people participating in just keep livin programs have gained access to WISE resources. In turn, the success of those students has created a larger vision for what the collaboration could become.
“They can see how well WISE is helping their kids, and it opens up the possibility of reaching even more.”
The foundation’s work with Grace Sober Living is equally personal.
The organization was created by Jimmy and Nancy Walker after the death of their son, Scott. During his life, Scott entered recovery homes 27 times and repeatedly told his father that the system needed to do better. After losing Scott to drugs, Jimmy committed himself to building 27 recovery homes that would offer the kind of meaningful support his son had struggled to find.
The Steele Family Foundation helped purchase one of those homes and brought the WISE program into Grace Sober Living. This year, three participants completed the program and began their postsecondary education with scholarships.
For Stacey, that is what impact looks like. It is not simply a donation made. It is a person rebuilding a life.
Another relationship close to Stacey’s heart began in the Dominican Republic.
Stacey and Michael met Andrea Bocelli and his wife, Veronica Berti, approximately eight years ago when both The Steele Family Foundation and the Andrea Bocelli Foundation were supporting work connected to SOS Children’s Villages.
“We were already supporting the same cause. That is how we came together, started talking and realized how aligned our foundations were.”
What began through a mutual commitment to children in the Dominican Republic grew into a friendship and an international philanthropic partnership. The Steeles have supported Andrea Bocelli Foundation initiatives in Italy, while the Bocellis have continued to champion the work of The Steele Family Foundation and WISE.
In Florence, Andrea and Veronica dedicated a space inside the Andrea Bocelli Foundation’s Globalab headquarters at the historic Complesso di San Firenze to The Steele Family Foundation and the WISE Scholarship Program, recognizing their shared commitment to education and young people too often overlooked.
The relationship has also come full circle in Arizona. The Andrea Bocelli Foundation has supported fundraising connected to Jimmy Walker and Grace Sober Living, bringing several of Stacey and Michael’s closest philanthropic relationships together around addiction recovery and education.
This October, Andrea and Veronica Bocelli honored the Steeles with a Lifetime Achievement Award for their philanthropic work.
“Whether somebody is influential or famous, knowing where their heart is, that is what the blessing really is. We are all the same. We all get up every day, and we all work hard at what we believe in.”
The accolades have continued. The Steele Family Foundation and WISE have received the CAF America Excellence in International Philanthropy Award, the 2026 Giving Day Community Champion recognition from the University of Waterloo, and the 2026 Canadian Choice Award in the charities category.
“We just want to help as many people as we can.”
As The Steele Family Foundation approaches its 20th anniversary in 2027, Stacey’s vision is both ambitious and deeply human. She wants WISE to reach more students, expand throughout the world and become a name employers immediately recognize as a sign of resilience, accountability and potential.
“Their stories make you want to wrap your arms around them and make sure they know they have the support they need.”
thesteelefamilyfoundation.com/wise-scholarship-program