A Tamaqua clothing store donated over 1,000 masks and has been creating many more.

Charles X Block has made generous donations since the beginning of the pandemic and has been busy mask-making since.

“I have been paying my staff to create and sew masks,” said owner Ralph Richards. “We gave out the first 1,000. We did the Frackville and Pottsville prisons, mom-and-pop pharmacies, we did 100 in the Lehigh Valley, 100 to St. Luke’s, Hometown Nursing, Heritage Hill, Pediatric Trauma of Geisinger - you’d be surprised how far, we shipped some to California, It’s crazy.”

It’s been tough sledding for Charles X Block, which turns 98 in August, without events such as proms and weddings.

“Like any other small business we’ve been devastated as 13 high schools worth of proms and 17 weddings for us were canceled in April and May,” Richards said “We lost by far our busiest season of the year. That’s bad, which a lot of businesses have and I’m empathetic to all of us. But it comes off for us in retail; the two slowest months, because nobody in January and February spends money because of Christmas in December. It kind of hit us at our weakest point. That said, we still felt the need to be of value - I’m in health care, my whole family is. We knew the need immediately for masks.”

Richards and his team offer a variety of different styled masks.

“We did a couple of neat patterns. We bought some Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers material and then it really caught on. We’re never going to get wealthy on it, but it’s going to help us keep the lights on once the pandemic is over.”

Looking for school spirit? Another popular option is a mask with a local high school logo on it.

“It’s been a part of our business, so I thought why not put the same logos on our masks,” Richards said. “If we’re blessed to get a football season in the fall, chances are somebody somewhere is going to make us wear a mask - so why not wear your school pride?

For more information, follow the Charles X Block Facebook page or email Ralphrdr10@gmail.com.