Organizers of the annual Books-4-Babies charity holiday anthology added new elements to this year’s clean, Christian romance story collection, including new authors familiar with the workings of pregnancy help organizations and expanded marketing efforts.
The book titled, The Strength of My Heart, was released October 29. Sale proceeds from the 2024 anthology will be donated to Marsha’s Place in Kentucky.
One of the authors featured in this year’s collection volunteered at Marsha’s Place as a teenager alongside her mother.
“I think I was 12 when I first started,” said M.E. “Meg” Weyerbacher. “We’d fold the clothes, stock the shelves, clean the refrigerator – really, whatever they needed.”
She learned about the anthology earlier this year from one of the organizers, Michelle Kampmeier, after connecting online.
“I loved her books, I loved her heart, and I began following her,” Meg said. “She messaged me and asked if I’d like to get involved, and I said, ‘Yes! That would be so cool!”
Meg’s anthology story revolves around a widower with a small child and a woman he meets after a tire on the woman’s car goes flat in front of his house.
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Michelle and Candace Sessums started the Books4Babies charity anthology project three years ago. Both have a heart for pro-life work, and after a prompting from God, they partnered to create the first book with each contributing a story. They expanded the endeavor and invited authors they knew who had the same passion for life and for writing sweet, clean, and Christian romance. They choose a different pregnancy help organization where proceeds will be donated for each anthology. Last holiday season, they chose True Care Women’s Resource Center in Wyoming. Michelle and Candace were able to donate $1,400 to the organization, the most raised to date for any of the anthologies.
Neva Bodin, a former True Care board member, is among the new authors featured in the 2024 anthology. Her story is about a broken engagement, a cruise, and a single dad and the nurse he meets when his daughter becomes ill.
Other new elements are also part of this year’s collection of stories. The theme, for example, is fatherhood.
“We did motherhood last year,” Candace told Pregnancy Help News. “One of the aspects we really wanted to build up, and that needs to be built up in our culture, is the importance of fatherhood.”
According to the National Fatherhood Institute, nearly one in four children live without a father in the home, whether that be biological, step, or adoptive dad.
That absence impacts children. The Institute states that kids without active dads in their lives have greater risks for growing up in poverty, experiencing behavioral problems, dropping out of school, abusing drugs and alcohol, getting into crime, and going to prison, among other negative situations.
Such effects prompted Michelle and Candace to choose fatherhood as the theme for The Strength of My Heart.
“I wanted to do something where we gave focus to fatherhood because I think that’s vital,” Candace said.
She also wanted the pregnancy help organization they selected “to have something for dads,” and Marsha’s Place offers programs for fathers, she said.
“I’m glad we chose the fatherhood theme,” Michelle stated. “Being able to highlight God’s idea for ‘family’ is a good thing – that’s not really promoted in the culture right now.”
Donating book sale proceeds to a pregnancy help organization helps authors use their writing gift to impact lives now and in the future. Pregnancy centers help women and men “see life as a viable option,” Candace said.
“For many people who are in that difficult position, the option of abortion is a much more spoken of option,” she said. “Having organizations that speak about the other option is vital.”
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Michelle agreed.
“Abortion is what our culture is talking about,” she said. “In the Bible we are called to help the orphans and widows, and I think that goes along with that – we can help out the women and men who don’t have the resources many of us do. We can help them raise up the next generation of image-bearers.”
A bigger online presence
The two women increased the online presence for the 2024 anthology, including a website, a Substack site, and a Facebook readers group.
The website allows people to order print copies of the book and order books in bulk.
“We had people order for youth groups last year and we thought if others might want to do that, they should receive a discount,” Candace said.
Also on the website, people can nominate a pregnancy help organization to receive funds from future anthologies. In the past, contributing authors have made suggestions for organizations they would like to see benefit from anthology sales. Now, however, readers and the pro-life public are now welcome to offer suggestions through the Books4Babies website.
Candace also created a Substack account where people can follow blog posts she creates regarding the project.
Another way for people to engage with the authors and the anthology project is through a Facebook readers group. On different days throughout the week, the various contributors post about their stories, their interest in the pro-life movement, and new happenings with the books. For example, one day last week the anthology climbed to the top 100 in various categories on Amazon.
The 2024 Books-4-Babies story collection has sold on Amazon and other online platforms since being released. The Strength of My Heart was set to go into Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (KU) program on November 12, Candace said.
The anthology will be available for a limited time only, through the end of January, she added.
The future
Like many of the authors contributing to the anthology, Meg sees using her writing gifts to help people and organizations as an opportunity to share God’s love and help people.
“I’m excited,” Meg said. “As the world gets darker, the church is getting brighter. So many people need hope. I have other books on my heart and there are other organizations I’d like to help. I’m just excited to see what God is going to do.”
Candace and Michelle envision the holiday anthology as an annual occurrence, helping other pregnancy help organizations around the country.
“God will provide,” Michelle said. “He’ll provide the writers; He’ll provide all that we need as we move into the future.”
The 2024 Books4Babies Christmas Christian romance anthology The Strength of My Heart comes in hard copy and e-book and is available on the Books-4-Babies website and at BarnesAndNoble.com, Amazon.com, and Books2Read.com.
