Pueblo couple finds business renewal after Rockies donation

PUEBLO — Meet the iron couple of COVID-19 protective mask making: Paul and Angela Drake.

"We're 30,000 yards of thread and 700 yards of elastic into this," Paul Drake said.

For the past 46 days, the Pueblo residents and owners of Twisted Rabbit Creations, a custom soap business, have been making the double switch, sewing hundreds of masks for orders all around the country.

"Non-stop, we've gotten orders from Baltimore, Brooklyn, St. Louis, a judge in Los Angeles," Paul Drake said.

Their Rocktober started earlier this month, when their work caught the eye of the Colorado Rockies social media team. From there, the organization sent merchandise from their "Swag room" to be turned into masks and given out in the local communities.

"Their attitude in helping with this was fantastic, and they're the real stars, investing their time, money and resources," Rockies Director of Brand Management & Social Media, Julian Valentin said.

In total, the Drakes made 285 masks, with fellow Puebloans Christina and Martha Martinez making 115 to bring the total of 400 donated across Colorado from these two families.

"To do this for the Rockies was the highlight of this whole thing, now our efforts have gone to helping others in the community and that was really what we were striving for," Paul Drake said.

With increased publicity through Twitter and Facebook, their brand has taken off since the beginning of May, with the pair making more than 2,500 masks directly out of their living room.

The custom designed filter-based masks sell in sets of three for $10 with a free bar of soap added for every purchase.

"It took us a little while to get it to where, we've got it down to a science," Paul Drake said.

A pair of Puebloans showing us how to keep your eye on the ball, even when life throws the occasion curve.

"We were flatlining, with the advent of making the masks, it has put us back on the map," Paul Drake said.