Fircrest family hopes to fill the air with bubbles, local food bank’s account with cash
Ingrid and Joe Barrentine, who live in Fircrest with their two daughters, were making bubbles long before the coronavirus pandemic broke out.
Now, they have turned their passion for effervescent creations into a way to help people.
“We were making bubbles for the family, and we had extra supplies at the house,” Joe Barrentine told The News Tribune recently. “We thought we would make some for other parents with kids at home to give them something to do. Then my wife suggested we use it as a fundraiser.”
The family decided to raise money for the St. Leo Food Connection, where they had done work before.
“We do a diaper drive for the Food Connection in the fall, so we have a relationship with those folks over there,” said Joe Barrentine, former photo editor at The News Tribune and first-term Fircrest City Council member. “They’re good people, and they’re doing good work.”
Kevin Glackin-Coley, executive director at the St. Leo Food Connection, said he appreciated the Barrentines’ support, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Who doesn’t like blowing bubbles?” Glackin-Coley said. “Like many others, we had to cancel our big fundraiser of the year back in March. It was right around the time that the virus was being declared a pandemic, and so anytime that the community can find a way to support us during this time when we’re closed off in our own little worlds is great.”
Services the Food Connection provides have been ongoing even as schools have closed.
“Even with the schools closed, we’re distributing our weekend food bags along with the school districts when they’re distributing their breakfast and lunch,” Glackin-Coley said. “The ability to continue doing that during this time is great.”
Ingrid Barrentine came up with the idea after talking with a friend.
“I was laid off from my job at the beginning of this crisis. I was feeling kind of down, as I’m sure many people are,” she said. “Doing something good, giving back always makes me feel better.”
The act of doing good for the community and seeing the community respond by doing good back has been a positive experience, Ingrid Barrentine said.
“It’s been amazing just for my personal mental health. To see so many people in the community come together and support something like this,” she said. “For our family, it’s just been great to give us a goal to focus on that’s a little bit less selfish than our goals can often be.”
If you want some bubbles of your own and to support the cause, all you have to do is fill out a form.
“The response has been astounding,” Joe Barrentine said. “In the first weekend, we made about 1,400 dollars.”
The money is earmarked for the Backpack Program, which sends meals home to kids on the weekend who typically would be on free and reduced lunch. According to St. Leo’s website, the “program now serves more than 1,100 children each weekend at dozens of schools in Tacoma, Lakewood and Puyallup” by providing “two days of food.”
“We decided to keep going with it, and so we bought more supplies,” Joe Barrentine said. “I made another 32 gallons of bubble mix.”
That 32 gallons sold fast and ensured the family could pass along another $1,700.
“We’re going to keep making it as long as people buy it,” Joe Barrentine said. “We’ve been fortunate to get a lot of support from our friends and our neighbors.”
To combine something he is passionate about and make it a positive force during difficult times is a win-win, he said.
“We’ve got the time to do it,” Joe Barrentine said. “My family is always going to make bubbles, so if we can help others at the same time, that seems like a good way to go.”
Joe Barrentine has making bubble mix down to a science.
“It’s a pretty straightforward mix with detergent and guar gum,” he said. “It’s a baking emulsifier, so if you have like gluten free bread or something like that, often the binding agent they use is guar gum instead of gluten. We use that, and I mix it together in a recipe that has taken me six or seven years to hone in on.
“I’ve spent more of my adult life thinking about bubbles than most people, let’s just put it that way. That’s a safe bet.”
Their kids Rosie, 8, and Sadie, 6, also expressed excitement over the activity.
“It’s fun because if you get your hands really bubbly, you can make your own bubbles with your hands,” Rosie said. “It’s a good thing to give because it’s fun, and it’s really good for people with kids.”
Asked if she likes making bubbles, Sadie had a simple answer: “Yeah, of course, yes.”
Glackin-Coley said St. Leo’s will continue its programs as normal.
“We will continue to do the backpack program as long as the school districts are distributing meals at the schools, which I assume will be through what would’ve been the end of the school year,” Glackin-Coley said. “We also do a summer meals program every year where we’re out at different sites distributing meals, but we’re just not sure what that is going to look like.”
Glackin-Coley said he himself has gotten some bubbles and plans to get more soon.
“I got some for my wife, who is a preschool teacher, so she can bring them once school starts again,” Glackin-Coley said. “I got a couple others for some friends. I’m going to get some more in this batch, too.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 11:07 AM.
