Kind Line Sign Up 

To request a well-check visit, please include your address in the Notes Section. By providing your address, you authorize us to contact local authorities for a wellness check if you are unresponsive to the text service for 24 hours during normal business hours. If you do not want this service please fill N/A in the Notes section. 

Kind Line is a thoughtful phone check-in service designed for members of the White Mountains community in Arizona. Our mission is to bring warmth and reassurance to your daily routine, so you always feel cared for and connected. Each morning, participants receive a friendly text message at 9:00 AM inviting them to respond, letting us know they have made it safely through the night. For those who choose to opt in to our wellness check feature, if we have not heard from you within 24 hours, we will reach out to local authorities to request a well-being check on your behalf.

The story of how Kind Line got started...

The Birth of "Batlink" the Kind Line inspiration story.

I was introduced to Batman by his dog, Blitzen. The first day I took my little heeler/pitbull for a
walk around our new neighborhood – Labor Day 2023 – Blitzen jumped the fence and then
followed us at a distance of 30 feet or so. He looked at us, tilted head, when he saw where we
lived then went home. Soon Blitzen was coming to see Dallas once or twice a week – at 2 am.
Which was fine, I was happy Dallas had a friend and that Blitzen wasn’t wandering the streets.
Batman, like his dog, seemed always to be out and about: riding his motorcycle, playing
saxophone, and just being a general wildman. Batman was an analog human in a digitized
world. He complained sometimes that Covid had ruined everyone’s social skills. I tended to
agree. That and our continued separation from one another via technology and culture
combined with ever diminishing non-privatized, shared social space. :) Every Sunday Batman’s
neighbor, Kiefer, would make “Scooby Treats” for watching the football game or a race. Batman
would never fail to share. He was at heart an incredibly generous human.
On Tuesday morning August 11, 2026 I got a call from my neighbor, Jerome, telling me that
Batman had passed. Kiefer had done a wellness check and found him. Dallas and I had been
by Monday morning and played with Blitzen during our walk but assumed it was too early for
Batman to be up and about. I left a message that evening to arrange a playdate and get back an
electric polesaw I had leant him. I know that Batman was not lying dead upon his floor for days,
but it recalled an event from earlier in the Spring 2026.
In April or so there was the unfortunate death of another neighbor of mine. In this instance no
one found him right away. He lay there. He had two dogs, an older German Shepard named
Lucas and also a sweet younger dog. What occurred with my neighbor and his two dogs is
something that must not happen in a community. It is immoral. His death and that of his two
companions has haunted me as I know how many people there are in this community and other
communities who are in a similar situation.
There is so much social isolation and a lot of it is structural. By structural I mean structures that
discourage interaction. For instance, not being like Batman and going out and playing and
instead being on the internet and getting angrier and more isolated. Interaction doesn’t have to
be big. The short interactions we have with a neighbor or the grocery cashier or the propane
delivery guy are just as much community as a church or hospital.
So, that brings me to Batlink. During a crying jag at the White Mountain Community Center I
threw out the idea that had formed in my mind. An idea that just had to do with facilitating a daily
check-in for people living by themselves. How many times do we say we will check in, but don’t.
That isn’t a guilt trip from me, it is structural. The structure wasn’t there for you to follow through.
What does follow through look like? The idea behind Batlink is simple: if you don’t respond to
your daily check-in we assume something is wrong and you need to be checked on. While the
impetus for this idea came from the elders of our community I can see Batlink being useful to
single parents with small children as well. It is also important that this interaction is with a

human, it isn’t automated. Do you want text? Or do you want to hear someone’s voice? Do you
want them to hear yours? There are options for how we all develop the Batlink. This is a simple
idea that I hope will bear beautiful results.
In closing I would like to add that it gives me great satisfaction to be able to use the skills of my
profession of Dancing Master to help choreograph this community dance.
Sincerely:
Kevin Stuart Schroder