Butterflies

When we were cleaning out our garage we opened a box that still had the moving company name on it. Although it was full of things we new we would never use again we did find this little pair of butterflies tucked away in the bottom. They are from Italy and I know we bought them but I cannot remember where. Anyway, we liberated them from the box and put them up on the wall next to the mirror in the entry.

I decided today to share a story about an art teacher named Virginia Martin and her grade school students in Healdsburg  who launched PepTok   "when the world broke. I feel like the war in Ukraine was the last straw for everybody." Her instructions to the kids were simple: 

Think of words of encouragement that have helped you, or words of advice that were meaningful and let me record your voice."  

They created a hotline offering a number of options: 
   Feeling mad or frustrated? Press 1
   Need life advice? press 2
   Need a pep talk from kindergartners? Press 3

The instructions to callers were even more simple. Just dial 707-998-8410. The expectation was that parents, teachers and perhaps a grandmother or two might dial in and listen.

"The hot line exploded. Turns out people were aching to hear the kids tell them, 'the world is a better place with you in it' and that 'you can do it' and that 'if you are feeling down, ice cream sometimes helps.' "

"Last week, the little project Martin had said she originally hoped would pull in 100 calls was getting 60,000 calls an hour"   She added an option for people to donate to keep PepTok , and other school arts programs running. So far she's raised $85,000 in donations.

Virginia Martin and the school where she teaches in Healdsburg have been flooded with responses. She walked into the school's main office one day to find the office manager in tears. She had just been on the phone with someone who runs an elder care facility in the Midwest thanking her for the project and saying ' I have not heard laughter like that in this facility ever', she said.

"Artists are problem solvers." said Martin. "The arts need to be be front and center and used as a tool for learning.. Art, as PepTok proves is not limited to watercolor and murals.  We need to expand the definition of art and the role it plays in society. I really do think our inherent creativity will save us, and this is just one example of that"
 
Thanks to The Press Democrat and Kerry Benefield who wrote this article. I also lifted the picture that accompanied the article and put it in extras.