{"id":48940,"date":"2026-08-05T16:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T07:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/?p=48940"},"modified":"2026-08-05T16:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T07:02:17","slug":"sunshine-coast-community-shines-bright-at-2026-steps-grand-winter-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/?p=48940","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine Coast community shines bright at 2026 STEPS Grand Winter Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The annual\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestepsgrandwinterball.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">STEPS Grand Winter Ball<\/a>\u00a0brought together the Sunshine Coast community\u00a0for an elegant night of generosity and entertainment, raising $308,087 for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stepspathways.com.au\/steps-pathways-charity\/\" target=\"_blank\">STEPS Pathways Charity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The STEPS Grand Winter Ball, sponsored by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/caloundrarsl.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">Caloundra RSL<\/a>, is the major fundraising event for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stepspathways.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">STEPS Pathways College<\/a>, the first and only boarding college of its kind in Australia\u00a0for young people with a disability and autism.<\/p>\n<p>Katrina May,\u00a0STEPS Pathways Charity Manager, said\u00a0STEPS is\u00a0incredibly grateful\u00a0for the support from\u00a0guests, sponsors,\u00a0partners\u00a0and ambassadors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are humbled by our generous community and grateful for the transformative opportunities\u00a0they help\u00a0create for our STEPS Pathways College students\u00a0to\u00a0build the skills and confidence for a lifetime of independence,&#8221;\u00a0Ms\u00a0May said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The energy in the room was extraordinary, and the night was a powerful reminder of what we can achieve when we come together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the past 17 years, the STEPS Grand Winter Ball has been\u00a0STEPS\u00a0Pathways College&#8217;s premier fundraising event, helping students transform their lives and achieve their dreams. This year was no exception.\u00a0I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended,\u00a0donated\u00a0and supported the event. Your generosity will have a lasting impact on the lives of our students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0gala was hosted by social justice advocate and entrepreneur\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.simonandschuster.com.au\/authors\/Ben-Vasiliou\/244670519\" target=\"_blank\">Ben\u00a0Vasiliou<\/a>,\u00a0and featured performances from Australian Idol winner\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/marshallhamburgermusic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Marshall Hamburger<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0inclusive performing arts ensemble\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunshinetroupe.org.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Sunshine Troupe<\/a>. Esteemed Australian media personality and STEPS Pathways College Ambassador Melissa Doyle AM was also in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>This press release has also been published on <a href=\"https:\/\/vritimes.com\/au\/articles\/ed05c83d-b906-426b-b108-c028f030db3d\/e7130ff2-3b6c-4d64-8b7d-41ebaf1bd68b\">VRITIMES<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The annual\u00a0STEPS Grand Winter Ball\u00a0brought together the Sunshine Coast community\u00a0for an elegant night of generosity and entertainment, raising $308,087 for\u00a0STEPS Pathways Charity. The STEPS Grand Winter Ball, sponsored by\u00a0Caloundra RSL, is the major fundraising event for\u00a0STEPS Pathways College, the first and only boarding college of its kind in Australia\u00a0for young people with a disability and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}