Giving Tuesday 2026: Emotional Well-Being for Kids

Dear Friend,

We've been so busy working on impact projects, it's time to give you a report all about SEL Day! This year was really something to celebrate. On March 3, POP-UP Festival volunteers and Six Seconds teams across four regions came together in the same week, anchored in the same purpose: helping children build the emotional skills they need to navigate their lives.

We worked across the entire Six Seconds network to create activations in every region, with goals to generate website signups and video views, enroll volunteers, invite attendance to live events, and spark social media sharing of #SELmoments.

The results exceeded our reach goals with 17.3 million impressions — and here's even more evidence of our actions.

In Singapore, educators from Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan joined a panel discussion on why social-emotional learning matters now more than ever for students.

In LATAM, Antonella facilitated a live conversation with young people from Mexico, Jordan, and Italy — students speaking openly about emotions and the skills they wish they had learned earlier.

A Facebook live with students from CONALEP in Monterrey hit 1,000 views in the first day.

In Europe, Ilaria's 90-minute educator workshop generated so much genuine connection that participants asked immediately for it to become a regular gathering.

This is what Six Seconds impact through POP-UP Festival is designed to do — not just create a single event, but plant the conditions for a culture of emotional learning that continues long after the day is over.

Looking ahead, in our next report  we will share our impact from EQ Day June 6.  It's a day when volunteers around the world bring emotional intelligence into schools, community spaces, and public gatherings — one joyful interaction at a time.

Thank you for making this work possible.

With gratitude, Patty

Hi Friends,

Since our last update, POP-UP Festival has continued to grow as a powerful way to support children’s emotional wellbeing by bringing entire communities together around emotional intelligence, kindness, and connection.

One standout example comes from Dubuque, Iowa, where a Kindness POP-UP Festival became a city-wide experience. Through a partnership with Six Seconds, the University of Dubuque, and the City of Dubuque, student and city volunteers worked side by side to bring emotional intelligence to life for 1,000 participants, including every second grader in the city and local college students.

Held outdoors on a bright, joyful day, the festival invited children to explore emotions through playful, hands-on activities designed to build emotional literacy, empathy, and positive connection. Undergraduate students and community volunteers stepped into leadership roles, modeling emotional intelligence in action while creating a welcoming environment where young learners could feel seen, heard, and supported.

Beyond the immediate experience, the Dubuque POP-UP Festival demonstrated what’s possible when emotional intelligence becomes a shared community practice. By engaging schools, higher education, and local government together, this project showed how simple, human EQ tools can strengthen relationships and foster a culture of care across an entire city.

With each POP-UP Festival, we continue to see how emotional intelligence creates ripple effects, supporting wellbeing, connection, and resilience far beyond a single event.

Thank you for making this work possible. Your generosity helps communities like Dubuque bring emotional intelligence to life for children and families, one joyful interaction at a time.

With gratitude,
Patty