In this episode of Author to Author, Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson interviews Ben Bongers on The Saint Nicholas Society (May 8, 2022)

Fred went from having it all—the girl, the car, the mansion—to being on the street. After being taken in by a kindly priest, he is diagnosed with cancer and begins to question what’s left for him to live for. Nearly falling off the wagon, he is shocked and inspired while watching a modern-day Secret Santa on a TV news broadcast in the bar. Soon he begins to emulate the real Saint by secretly giving to those in need. Along the way he teams up with a band of “misfit-toy” compatriots who each question what life has in store for them. Fred’s story parallels the historic Saint Nikolas of Myra. Told in first person, we learn of then Nicholas’s friendship with an avowed pagan, the loss of his parents at an early age, and his being taken in by an ordained uncle. We follow his life and rise in an outlawed Church, the hardships and fears he had to endure, the communities he created, and his eventual service to the emperor, Constantine. Woven together like a fine tapestry, Fred and Nikolas’s stories inspire everyone to remember that the best ways to live are through kindness, community, and good deeds—showing that the more things change the more they stay the same.

https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/thesaintnicholassociety/