Congratulations to Gloria and Tom Bratkowski, neighbors and charter members of Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, recipients of our 2024 Lifetime Dedication to Community Building Award!
The Lifetime Dedication to Community Building Award recognizes a person who:
Has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to community building work.
Has exhibited leadership, vision, and a commitment to action and results.
Has catalyzed outstanding impact in community building policy, investment, and/or community change.
Has worked to challenge the status quo in the St. Louis region.
Tom Bratkowski was born and raised in the Old North neighborhood before briefly journeying away to pursue his higher education. It was on this journey that Tom met his wife and lifelong collaborator, now Gloria Bratkowski. In the early 1970s, Tom and Gloria returned to Old North and a few years later, inspired by the need in their community and the work of other neighborhood groups around the city, became founding members of Old North St. Louis Restoration Group. Motivated by passion and rich experience in Old North, Tom and Gloria have worked with the community for the betterment and preservation of the neighborhood for roughly 50 years.
Gloria and Tom’s impact on Old North has stemmed from decades of showing up building community in the most relational sense. “We rely on each other. We have a lot of people who are fully invested, so we’re not alone.” Their collaboration and community-building efforts helped launch the Coalition to Stop the North-South Distributor, led to the establishment of the Ames School Butterfly Garden which tags around 100 monarchs per season, and led the fundraising effort to preserve three community gardens in the neighborhood. Mutual relationships of community support have been a key to Gloria and Tom’s success and continued efforts, and they hope that passionate individuals continue to show up for Old North for years to come. “Old North has always been a work in progress, and it still is.” Gloria and Tom’s sustained efforts to show up for the work of community building one day at a time for so many years serve as an inspiration for the entire St. Louis community.
