ST. LOUIS — Peggy Winckowski has a specific love language: breakfast.

So last Wednesday — two days after it was announced she had been chosen by USA Today as one of its “Women of the Year” — she headed to Bishop DuBourg High School to drop off 42 boxes of doughnuts and 10 gallons of milk.

“I wanted to feed my people,” said Winckowski.

But the Catholic high school in south St. Louis turned the tables on her. Grandma Peggy, as everyone calls her, was greeted in the cafeteria with a standing ovation.

Students and teachers were there, but so were alums of Grandma Peggy’s Breakfast Club, which the Post-Dispatch featured last year. There were also parents of the kids — many now away at college — that she has been cooking for over the past five years.

“It was much better than being 'Woman of the Year,'” she said of the pastry ruse. “I needed waterproof mascara.”

Winckowski, 69, is one of eight national recipients of USA Today's annual honor. Her fellow honorees include country singer Lainey Wilson, Warner Brothers CEO Channing Dungey and Los Angeles’ professional women’s soccer team, the Angel City Football Club.

“Each had different paths, but they share one goal,” the introduction to the article reads. “Making a difference in their community.”

Winckowski’s unlikely route to national media acclaim began in the lemon-wallpapered kitchen of her Holly Hills home. The Breakfast Club was the brainchild of her grandson, Sam, who was then a freshman at DuBourg — which is also Winckowski’s alma mater.

Every Wednesday, Sam had a late start at school. One week, he and his cousin brought a group of friends over to eat.

Winckowski scrambled eggs, fried bacon and crimped cinnamon rolls in the waffle iron. Before they headed off to school, the boys posed for a photo on the sidewalk. Wednesday breakfast at Grandma Peggy’s became part of their routine.

Then, one night in July 2022, Sam and a friend were riding motorbikes. A car crashed into Sam, killing him. He was 15 years old.

For many members of the Breakfast Club, it was their first experience with loss. They congregated at Winckowski’s house before Sam’s funeral. They wanted their midweek ritual to continue.

In the months that followed, the teens and Winckowski kept leaning on each other. As many as three dozen kids would crowd into Winckowski’s tiny kitchen for pancakes and conversation.

Early last year, Winckowski suffered another tragedy. Her daughter — Sam’s mom — died of cancer. Once again, the Breakfast Club helped keep her going.

When Sam’s classmates graduated in May, Winckowski celebrated with them. They promised they would keep coming for visits.

“We’re all still talking, and we’re all still together, no matter what,” said Aaron Venneman, a Breakfast Club original who now attends Maryville University.

He returned to DuBourg last Wednesday to cheer on Winckowski.

“She was really overwhelmed, but in a good way,” Venneman said. “This is incredible for her.”

Winckowski was invited to meet the other USA Today honorees in Los Angeles at the end of the month, but she’s not sure she will go. She is the caregiver for her husband, who has late-stage Parkinson’s disease and dementia. And she recently had a pacemaker put in.

Plus, she said, the LA scene isn't really her people.

“I have all the love that anybody in the world could ask for,” Winckowski said. “I’m very thankful.”

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