In January 2007, I was living in downtown Galt and didn’t know many people. I had just moved from Toronto, bought a house, and was settling into Cambridge for the second time in my life.
Working from home all day can be isolating. Every evening, I’d pack up my laptop, walk a couple of blocks to the local coffee shop, and read. It was there that I had a simple idea: What if I wasn’t sitting here alone?
"I started a Meetup group and posted a weekly invite for people to join me. To my surprise, they did."
KW Coffee and Stuff was born. The goal was simple: get to know one another over coffee, then eventually venture out and do “stuff” around town. It worked like a charm.
Life eventually took me away from Cambridge. I sold my house, moved to different cities, spent a winter in Belize, and stepped down from the group. But the community I started didn’t disappear – someone else stepped up, and the group continued to grow. By the time I landed back in Cambridge for the fourth time in 2016, the world was about to change. Then came Covid. Through all those years, the group stayed alive, sitting at about 2,200 members, even if it was mostly dormant during the lockdowns. In May 2022, the opportunity of a lifetime popped up: the current organizer was stepping down. I jumped at the chance and reclaimed my group. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
As of today, February 2026, we have grown to 3,000 members. Over the last four years, I’ve built an incredible social life and met amazing people – one of whom is Agnetha. Agnetha joined as an organizer and has been a huge credit to the group. Beyond her passion for community, she is a marketing professional with a master’s degree and 15 years of experience. I’ve been fascinated by the world of online business since the early 2000s—from writing ebooks to importing products for Amazon. Through my conversations with Agnetha, we realized that with a dedicated website and a bit of marketing, we could expand our reach far beyond the Meetup platform.
We decided to partner up and create KWCoffee.ca. While our original group will always have a home on Meetup, this new site allows us to connect with the entire KW area and build something even bigger. This has been 19 years in the making. I’m thrilled to be working with Agnetha and even more excited to see where this next chapter takes us. The adventure continues!
