A kids pep talk hotline, organized by students and teachers at a Sonoma County elementary school, has received widespread attention and praise across the country — even recently from tennis superstar Naomi Osaka.
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Anyone can call the now viral hotline to hear delightful recorded messages from students up to 12 years old who attend West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg.
When someone dials the phone number,they’re greeted by a student read recording, "Hi, welcome to Peptoc, a public art project by West Side School."
The student operator then lists the following options for people to select depending on what they need to hear, "If you’re feeling mad, frustrated or nervous, press one. If you need words of encouragement or life advice, press two. If you need a pep talk from kindergartners, press three. If you need to hear kids laughing with delight, press four. If you need encouragement in Spanish, press five."
Each selection plays messages which are hilarious while simultaneously full of wisdom, beauty and hope.
"If you're frustrated you can always go to your bedroom, punch your pillow or cry on it. Or just go scream outside," one girl recommends.
"If you’re sad or angry, go get a cookie, a smoothie or an ice cream," another girl says.
"Dude, live it up!" a boy says as part of the words of encouragement or the life advice option.
The project was created by art teachers Asherah Weiss and Jessica Martin, who told CBS News last week they’ve received up to 9,000 calls per hour, totaling roughly 500,000 calls.
That count has surely increased since Osaka tweeted the North Bay phone number out to her 1.1 million followers on Tuesday just before 4 p.m. The tennis phenom and champion has been open about her mental health struggles after withdrawing from the French Open and not playing in Wimbledon last year in order to tend to her mental wellbeing. She has said she struggled with depression since winning the U.S. Open in 2018. Last week Osaka was brought to tears by a heckler in the crowd during her match at Indian Wells.
Osaka is the highest profile celebrity to bring awareness to the school's project, which has also gained national attention through coverage in the New York Times, NPR and CNN.
"A lot of people are just under a lot of stress, under a lot of pressure," Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins told KCBS Radio. "So to have something like this, pep talks from kids, it’s fantastic."
"I cannot tell you how many people I’ve gotten text messages from and social media messages from just saying that it completely made their day and in some cases turned their day around."
Need a pick me up? Call 707-873-7862 to hear the uplifting — and adorable —messages for yourself.
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