Want to get some advice from kids? Peptoc is here! (ID 115138928 © Rido | Dreamstime.com)
Sometimes, life can be a bit of a challenge. We all have down days, after all, and it's nothing to be ashamed of!
That said, we could all use a bit of a boost. That's why friends and family are so important. And now there's a brand new hotline that we can turn to as well for encouragement and advice.
It's called Peptoc, it's free, and it averages thousands of callers a day.
And the star of its show? Is kids!
"Hello, you've reached some awesome kids!"
The idea for Peptoc came from a pair of teachers at West Side Elementary in Healdsburg, California, Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss. Working with their students, they came up the idea to allow callers to hear elementary school kids give out words of encouragement and help.
When you call, there are several different categories, depending on what sort of help you're looking for. You can get help if you're feeling mad or frustrated. You can hear words of life advice. There's an option to get a pep talk from kindergarteners, and one option that just let's you hear the sound of 'kids laughing with delight'! You can even hear encouragement in Spanish, the second official language in the United States (sorry, there's no French option ... yet!).
Free, thanks to donations
Since launching on February 26, the hotline has been a huge success, easily surpassing the expectations of the teachers and students. Though not a toll-free number, the minutes have been made free thanks to a donation of one million minutes by their hotline provider, Telzio. The only issue?
The hotline has been so popular, the minutes are starting to run low. To address that, there is an option to donate to Peptoc. This is great because the organizers of Peptoc want to keep it running as long as possible.
In an interview with Mashable, Jessica Martin said, "I am so proud of these kids. It is so important that they see that they have this tremendous power to lift up the world."
We're proud of them, too!
