If the news has you feeling down lately, look no further than a group of kindergartners for a quick pick-me-up.
A new hotline has launched with positive messages, pep talks and words of wisdom -- all pre-recorded by students at West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg, California.
To access the "Peptoc Hotline," dial 707-998-8410 and you'll be greeted with the following message: "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."
You'll hear advice like: "If you're frustrated, you can always go to your bedroom and punch a pillow or cry on it," and "If you're feeling up high and unbalanced, think of groundhogs."
The children also share affirmations like: "The world is a better place with you in it," "Keep trying, don't give up," and "Bro, you're looking great."
You can also listen to a five-second loop of nothing but children laughing in delight.
The "Peptoc Hotline" launched as part of the student's public art project and quickly went viral. Art teacher Jessica Martin, who helped launch the project, told CNN the hotline receives between 300 and 500 calls an hour, and up to as many as 5,000 calls a day.
Martin said she never expected the hotline to get as popular as it has, but she's happy about it.
"I thought, you know, with this world being as it is, we all really needed to hear from [the children] — their extraordinary advice and their continual joy," Martin told NPR. "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.
"That this went viral is really testament that we all still have a lot of healing to do," Martin added.
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The school had only planned to keep the hotline open for just a few months, with a limited number of minutes for $50 a month. Due to its popularity, the phone service company agreed to donate one million minutes to the project, KTVU reported. At the current call rate, the school said the free minutes will only last a few weeks, so it launched a GoFundMe to keep the hotline open for as long as possible.
"We are absolutely astounded and so very moved by the outpouring of calls," the school said on the fundraiser. "We are so proud that these kids are providing so much joy and light in a very difficult time in the world."
The hotline itself also includes an option for callers to donate to the project.
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