Warehouse volunteer publishes book – Plano Magazine

The book took several years to write. It was a long process of conducting interview after interview, double, triple and quadruple checking every fact. She told the stories from The Storehouse – the place where she had volunteered for years – and made them matter. They were real, meaningful stories, and Nancy Kurkowski was determined to get each one right.

The book took over a decade to write. The setting was built from scratch and Kurkowski was there when it all happened. She worked as a volunteer for years, the book just an idea in the back of her mind as she got to know every familiar face that walked through the nonprofit’s doors. Her book, We are your neighbors: Stories from The Storehousewould not have been possible without the years she spent there, she says.

This book took her entire life to write. It was born out of a spirit of helping where and when she could – a spirit that kept her coming back to help The Storehouse, whether she was watching her child get married or being diagnosed with breast cancer. Whatever she was going through, Kurkowski did it with a desire to give back, she says, and she has 116 pages to prove it.

Now that the book is being published, Kurkowski can proudly say: Every second was worth it.

The Storehouse Community Center is a nonprofit organization located at St. Andrew Methodist Church that consists of four programs: Seven Loaves Food Pantry, Joseph’s Coat Clothing Closet, Project Hope Neighbor Care, and The Academy Education Program. The programs serve to fulfill the purpose of the Storehouse – “to feed, clothe, and care as neighbors in a community.”

“Everyone (who comes to the) Storehouse is just like me,” says Kurkowski. “They are fellow children of God and God loves them as much as He loves us. That culture has always been embedded in The Storehouse and that is exactly what I tried to express in this book.”

After being contacted in early 2009, Kurkowski joined a handful of people with a common goal: to establish a food bank to help Collin County residents during the time of the 2008 global financial crisis. On the first day The Storehouse opened, the bank served one family. Today, it serves thousands.

“The people we saw were people who never thought they would end up in a food bank,” says Kurkowski. “These were people who had steady jobs but were severely impacted by the crisis. We were positioned to be in the right place at the right time, which is what allowed The Storehouse to grow so much.”

Kurkowski volunteered at The Storehouse until late 2014, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She spent most of 2015 undergoing chemotherapy and surgery, and then recovering. Kurkowski says the diagnosis strengthened her relationship with God and her fellow human beings.

“I realized what friendships (and) support I had because so many people showed up out of nowhere,” Kurkowski says. “When we just go through life, we forget how much we depend on our friends, but God showed me that.”

After her recovery, Kurkowski was hesitant to return to her old role since she had been away for a year. For the next few years, she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), where she made sure foster children were placed in good families.

“(God) came close to me because I was open to Him,” Kurkowski says. “He reminded me that there is something bigger in life than just doing your own thing. We are here for a reason.”

During her absence, Kurkowski kept in touch with The Storehouse. When she learned of a possible vision for the organization’s next steps, she began volunteering there again in late 2022. As she got to know more and more “neighbors,” the people The Storehouse serves, she came back to an idea that had always been in the back of her mind – telling their stories.

“I wanted to open some people’s eyes and hearts with this book,” says Kurkowski.

Kurkowski regularly asked volunteers and visitors for stories they might know, and then set to work writing her book. She interviewed each person several times and then had them read the stories to make sure they were OK with the book being published.

“It was very important to me that the stories empower the neighbors, that they appear like heroes in their own stories, because they are heroes,” says Kurkowski. “The Storehouse doesn’t save; we give our neighbors the resources and let them save themselves.”

The book was published in mid-April. During the 15th anniversary of The Storehouse on May 16, We are your neighbors was officially launched and distributed to stakeholders and community members. The book is now available on Amazon for $10 in paperback and 99 cents in e-book.

“It’s not about making money,” Kurkowski says. “It’s about opening people’s hearts. It’s about communicating the value of really getting to know someone who is different, a child of God who just happened to be born into different circumstances.”