Call 707-998-8410, and you just might hear the voice of a kid encouraging you that way.
700 callers per hour have taken advantage of this free hotline since they launched it February 26.
Kids’ voices will prompt you with a menu of options:
- If you’re feeling mad, frustrated or nervous, press 1.
- If you need words of encouragement and life advice, press 2.
- If you need a pep talk from kindergartners, press 3.
- If you need to hear kids laughing with delight, press 4.
- For encouragement in Spanish, press 5.
This free hotline is called Peptoc. It is a project of the students of West Side Elementary, a small school in the town of Healdsburg, California.
“Their creativity and resourcefulness is something that we need to emulate, because that level of joy and love and imagination is what’s going to save us in the end,” said teacher Jessica Martin.
Jessica, along with fellow teacher Asherah Weiss helped the students in the arts program create this. They talked to students about the idea that art is a kind of social practice, a conversation, a contribution to the world. It creates something we can all learn from.
When funding was massively cut for the arts and enrichment programs, they had to get creative. They are asking for donations to keep these programs alive. The website says,
For the 2022/23 school year, parents hope to raise $85,000 in order to fund PE, Art and Garden, and to bring back our dear Music and Spanish programs! West Side relies 100% on donations for these programs.
https://westsideparentsfef.wixsite.com/felta/donate
So, I called, pressed 3 and heard:
If you’re feeling up high and unbalanced, think of groundhogs.
Be grateful for yourself.
For more words from kids as a little respite from what you’re going through, call 707-998-8410 for Peptoc.
