Kids launch free hotline to share pep talks, pieces of advice

published 8 March 2022

Need a little encouragement? How about some advice? Maybe a few words of wisdom? All this and more is just a phone call to Peptoc away.

Peptoc is a free hotline created by students at West Side Elementary in Healdsburg, California, with help from teachers Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss. "I thought, you know, with this world being as it is, we all really needed to hear from them — their extraordinary advice and their continual joy," Martin told NPR.

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Peptoc launched on Feb. 26, and is already receiving thousands of calls every day. After dialing Peptoc at 707-998-8410, callers are instructed to hit 1 if they're "feeling mad, frustrated, or nervous," and 2 if it's encouragement and life advice they're seeking. For a pep talk from kindergartners, press 3, and to hear kids "laughing with delight," hit 4. Encouragement in Spanish is available by pressing 5.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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