HEALDSBURG, Calif., — War, disease, inflation — it’s safe to say the 2020s are troubling times, but one California elementary school has created a special phone line using kindergarteners to pep you up.
Call (707) 998-8410.
When you do, you’ll reach a special art project called “Peptoc Hotline” created by students at West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg, Calif.
The line, which is a simple phone tree, includes the following options:
- Press 1: “If you’re feeling mad, frustrated or nervous”
- Press 2: “If you need words of encouragement and life advice”
- Press 3: “If you need a pep talk from kindergarteners”
- Press 4: “If you need to hear kids laughing with delight”
- Press 5: “For encouragement in Spanish”
- Press 6: “If you would like to make a donation to support this project”
“If you’re nervous, go get your wallet and spend it on ice cream and shoes!” suggests one student.
“If you mad or frustrated, you can do what you want to do, best or you can do flips on the trampoline,” offers another.
“We already like you!” scream a group of children.
Mashable reports that Peptoc’s free service only has 1 million minutes donated from Telzio, their hotline provider. With the number of callers ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 a day, according to Mashable and CNN, those minutes could run out quickly. If you want to support the line, you can donate at their GoFundMe or directly at the school’s site.
“With the massive volume of calls to the hotline, we had to raise $800 a DAY to cover the hotline fees,” states GoFundMe. “Fortunately, the hotline company, Telzio, has offered us a million free minutes and a discounted rate as sponsorship. However, this will only last a few weeks at the rate of current daily calls.”
Peptoc was created with student recordings by artist Jessica Martin, and educator Asherah Weiss, based on an idea from Martin’s 6-year-old son, according to CNN.