Soldiers to get 'boxes' of love from the Valley

YOUNGSTOWN — What started with one family and concern for a son and brother far away in a war-torn land is now a nationwide project involving Americans’ pulling together as one big family.

Jenny Cammarata coordinates the Boatsie’s Boxes to Baghdad project at Pleasant Grove Presbyterian Church, 3919 Southern Blvd., where her husband, the Rev. Nick Cammarata, has served as pastor for four years.

She is involved for two reasons.

First, it was her mother, Gail “Boatsie” Van Vranken of Wheeling, W.Va., who began the venture when her son and Cammarata’s brother, Master Sgt. Patrick Van Vranken of the Air Force, was stationed in Iraq in 2004 (he now is in Italy). He sent an urgent message home about the need for some necessities and maybe some niceties that would help troops in a practical way and lift morale.

Second, Cammarata thought the project would be embraced by the congregation as part of its mission work. The church is now a satellite center for the project.