ROCKINGHAM — A load of care packages is bound for a local service member and his unit in Greenland.
That’s right — Greenland.
Members of VFW Post 4203 and its Auxiliary packed up 31 boxes of various snacks and supplies to send to Thule Air Base, where David Estridge is stationed.
Estridge is the son of David and Darlene Estridge of Rockingham.
According to the Air Force, Thule Air Base is the U.S. armed services’ northernmost military installation — 750 miles north of the arctic circle.
The base is home to a “global network of sensors providing missile warning, space surveillance and space control to North American Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command.”
Units stationed at Thule include: 821st Air Base Group; 821st Support Squadron; 821st Security Forces Squadron; 12th Space Warning Squadron; Det. 1, 23rd Space Operations Squadron.
The boxes headed to the airmen include peanut butter, crackers — and toilet paper.
Auxiliary President Robin Roberts said Saturday was the first time the group had been able to meet since Gov. Roy Cooper put in place mass gathering restrictions to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Those restrictions were also why the public wasn’t invited to help, like earlier this year when around 40 volunteers helped pack more than 130 boxes to send to troops stationed overseas.
Roberts said they were also sending a few boxes to retired Army Lt. Col. Jon Ring, who left in January as senior instructor of the Army JROTC unit at Richmond Senior High School for a similar position in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Roberts said the packages would be sent Monday.
To fund the care packages each year, the Auxiliary hosts Rockin’ for Veterans, a full-evening concert at the VFW featuring local bands.
Roberts said this year’s concert is tentatively scheduled for September, but will depend on mass gathering rules.
