Happy New Year, everyone!
2025 will be a year of change for Children of God for Life. Stacy and I will be transitioning leadership of COGFL to Yvonne Bontkowski. The process to transition the organization began in November of 2024 and we expect everything to be complete in January.
Stacy and I have been discussing succession plans for some time because we are at a point in our lives where our attentions are drawn to other things. This Autumn, our son will begin his freshman year in high school, our youngest daughter will begin her senior year and our youngest granddaughter will start Kindergarten. We have campus visits to plan and we want to do all we can to ensure our young lady has a memorable and successful senior year. We also want to get our son off to a good start in high school, and we need to make room for the coming wave of Kindergarten artwork that is coming our way.
Stacy is pursuing doctoral studies in philosophy (in Ireland, no less!) and will be dedicating more time to several writing projects that have been taking shape for several years. These projects are of great personal importance to Stacy and have direct bearing on pro-life and bioethics issues. These books need to be written!
As for me, I would like to resume my retirement. I had just retired when Stacy and I assumed leadership of COGFL, a month or so before COVID scrambled everything. I look forward to supporting my family in their endeavors and I will see if I have enough left to make a run at a national championship in a high-power rifle discipline.
Leading COGFL has been incredibly fulfilling, humbling and challenging. We changed things during the pandemic. We helped shape the narrative from the pro-life perspective, defended human dignity, and supported the community standing up for what was, and is, right. The time has come to give others the opportunity to effect change and achieve progress for the pro-life community. Yvonne Bontkowski has been involved with COGFL in the past, and she is a staunch and unwavering defender of the most innocent and vulnerable among us, the unborn. Yvonne has worked closely with Debi Vinnedge, the founder of COGFL, for many years and we believe it is fitting and right to see the organization go forward under her leadership.
Stacy and I will do everything we can to support Yvonne during this transition. Communication and emails will be changing in January (info@cogforlife.org will be directed to Yvonne, for example) and all of the operational details will be changed over in the most non-disruptive manner possible. Yvonne will be introducing herself shortly and we have all the confidence in the world that the organization is in good and capable hands going forward.
We are sincerely grateful for the support you have given us over the last five years. Your generosity has been inspiring, overwhelming at times, and has placed the organization on very firm footing, with resources that will help change our society for the better.
We are better people because of this experience and we thank you.
Sincerely yours, and in Christ,
Jose and Stacy
Thank you so much to both of you. I trust in your transition plan and leadership for this indispensable resource. Please accept my prayers and best wishes, and I look forward to reading Stacy’s books!~Lucy Pollard-Gott
Lucy, thank you so much for your kind words and prayers!
What a blessing you both are to the world! Thank you for always being there for questions. Your servant’s heart has been encouraging. May God bless you and your family.
Respectfully,
Annette Overcash
North Carolina
Thank you, Annette! You’re too kind!
Thank you for all the valuable information which gave directions to my decisions during the critical years of Covid. Cogforlife.org is a treasure! My prayers with your family.
I for one, that may speak for many, thank you for being there for exactly when I needed concrete written evidence to prove my innermost conviction about using tainted abortion derived procedures and derivatives in the Covid mRNA vaccines. THANK YOU, and God Bless – job well done.
Thank you for your guidance. You’ve been a shining light on ethical, medical info and my decisions.
I can’t thank you enough for all you have done for the community at large. And it is a delight to hear about your family plans. And thanks for the special picture of you both. May the Lord bless you and prayers sent your way. Sr Mary of Our Divine Savior
Thank you so so much for your faithful commitment to Truth in this most important time, for a cause dear to Our Lord’s heart and His Mother’s. May God bless you.
Thanks you so much for all that you have done. God’a blessings for the future!
Best wishes and prayers for you all.
Thank you so much for your service! You’ve changed lives and helped many.
Thank you for All you have done with this amazing organization, which is so needed. You have helped many…best wishes and God’s blessing for your next beautiful chapter. 😇🤍🙏🏼