FEATURE KELLY MCMILLAN

KELLY MCMILLAN:

HELPING OTHERS THROUGH THE LOVE OF COFFEE

by Rachel Braun

How wonderful would it be to know your morning coffee is making the world a little bit better? This month, I was privileged to hear Kelly McMillan’s story, and all about her work and passion to change the world, one cup of coffee at a time. Renaissance Woman

Kelly was born in Brandon, Manitoba. In her youth, she recalls being both a daredevil and a creative. Kelly recalls, “Until I was 12, I wanted to be a jockey. I was obsessed with horses and racing. After high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to be. I loved art but I didn’t even know what media to specialize in, I just wanted to make things. I ended up working in the mountains for a couple of years at a chalet. I would go home during the winter months and work out there in the summer. By the time I was 20 years old, I had saved quite a bit of money and decided I wanted to open a retro clothing store back in Manitoba. I’ve always loved old things and treasure hunting in second-hand and antique shops”. Kelly’s store, The Rusty Circle, was open for two years. In the end, she chose to close it in response to changes to the downtown core.

After 10 years working in retail, Kelly once again heard the call to cultivate her skills in making things that impacted the space around her. Kelly shares, “I still wanted to be making something. I visited our local college and went through all the trades. I took an industrial metal fabrication course. Half of it was welding, half was machining… Walking into the class was really intimidating, but the instructor was so supportive of me. I was the only girl and was a few years older than most of the guys. Once I got my confidence up, I did really well and was at the top of the class. It was very precise work with lots of measuring and details. It was a good fit for me”. By the end of her first year, Kelly had achieved her first level in both trades, and decided to seek apprenticeship as a machinist. Four years later, she got her ticket and moved to Winnipeg to work at an aerospace company.

Kelly’s journey to Central Alberta started when she met her partner, Ronald. Kelly recalls, “Ronald and I met in Brandon. He’s Colombian and he came to Canada on a work visa”. Soon, Ronald began his schooling and training to become an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. Kelly shared, “Once Ronald completed his first levels, he applied for jobs across Canada and got hired at the Red Deer Airport. We did the long-distance thing for about three years. He’d be home for a few months and then go back to Alberta. Eventually, we decided to start a family and that happened right away. I quit my job, and we moved to Sylvan. Now, seven years later, it’s me, Ronald, our two boys, and a great big dog”.

On weekends, you can often find Kelly driving across Central Alberta working as a marriage commissioner. Kelly described, “Shortly after we moved to Sylvan

Lake, I wanted to make some extra money. I also love people, and this seemed like a perfect fit. I had to do a big interview with a panel and a mock wedding. It was intense!” Discovering White Frog

Today, you may know Kelly through the White Frog Café, a boutique, take-out only café and storefront nestled in the Stone House, a heritage site in Sylvan Lake. Like the Stone House, the story of White Frog goes back generations. Kelly describes, “White Frog all happened because of Ronald. When we moved to Sylvan Lake over 7 years ago, we didn’t have any land in Colombia at the time. Ronald grew up on the family farm with his cousins, and his family is still there. One day, Ronald’s brother decided to give him a hectare of this land as part of the family inheritance. We asked, what could we do with the land that would help his family? Well, we could plant something that we could employ them to harvest and maintain. Coffee was the natural thing. We hired Ronald’s brother and cousins to grow the coffee from seed. They grow to about 6-8 inches tall, and then they are put in holes. We hired enough people to plant 5,000 of them. For the first 2-3 years, we were mainly focused on making sure the plants could survive”.

While Ronald was focused on the farm in Colombia, Kelly was busy learning how to import the coffee to Canada. “We knew we wanted to import the coffee into Canada, but we didn’t know how complicated it would be,” Kelly shares. “Between us, Ronald’s job was harder, because it was only recently that Colombia opened up its laws to allow farmers to export their goods. For a long time, they had to sell everything to the government who would export goods themselves. It sounds well and good, but often, farmers don’t have the knowledge or resources to figure everything out. With Ronald being here, he was able to study and get his credentials to import and export everything”.

Once all the required logistics were in place, it was time to create their company. Kelly reminisced, “We had a hard time deciding on a name. Ronald wanted something in Spanish, and I wanted something in English. Out of nowhere, Ronald’s brother sent us a picture of a tiny little white frog on one of the coffee leaves. From that moment, we were the White Frog Café”. Even with the English name, there was a brief period of being lost in translation. “For us, café meant coffee, but everyone was asking, ‘so where’s your café?’. There was a bit of confusion at first”, Kelly laughs. Just six months ago, Kelly and Ronald’s café came to life in the Stone House. “Once we saw the Stone House was for sale, we worked everything out so we could renovate the Stone House while keeping our own home. We’ve been open for four months now. We still sell our coffee to Safeway, Sobeys, and Amazon.ca, but now we have a take-out café and a storefront, and it’s going so well”.

Bridging Histories and Communities

“No matter who walks through our doors, we try to tell the stories of what we do and where we are,” Kelly shares. “White Frog started with the purpose of helping people. We give back a portion of the proceeds and lead community projects. You can imagine, in Colombia, they might not have the tools or resources, just a shovel and a pickaxe, but they are such hardworking and kind people. We are so lucky and so privileged to be living in Canada. For Ronald especially, he feels so lucky to

have a home, a business, and cars. He’s always trying to help people with tools, equipment, education, and community support”.

White Frog’s impact goes beyond a great cup of coffee. Kelly described, “We recently did a bit of math. We buy beans based on quality and we pay farmers based on quality. If farmers sell their beans to a coffee board, it’s just a flat rate (and peanuts). In the end, farmers make about 56% more selling to us than what they would get selling to a coffee board. It’s great for the farmers and good for us, too, but it can sometimes be difficult as a business. Here, anyone can buy beans for so much less. Our beans are more expensive because we are supporting the farmers. We hope we can get the beans moving more in the future. Back in Colombia, everyone that knows Ronald asks, ‘will you buy my coffee?’, but because we are so new, we can’t afford to buy everyone’s coffee yet”.

Kelly’s storytelling isn’t limited just to coffee. Kelly actively seeks to promote the history and legacy of the Stone House in downtown Sylvan Lake. With conversational ease and passionate knowledge-sharing, Kelly described some of the history of the Stone House. It was founded in 1913, the same year as when Sylvan was established. “It’s like an icon for Sylvan Lake,” Kelly describes. “I almost feel like 1913 Days are just for us. This year, we are doing coffee tastings and our little guys are going to offer a lemonade stand out front. The man who built it was from France. He was an avid trapper and would eat anything – like, anything! He lived into old age and sold the house to a family in Sylvan with nine children. The house is small (600 square feet), so you can imagine what the space would be like with a family of nine kids! In 1980, the house was condemned because of the wiring, so the nine children fundraised to redo the wiring and save the house. Just a month ago, there was an elderly lady standing outside the building and I asked if she wanted to come in. She shared, ‘oh, I’ve been in, it’s my family’s home’. I was so thrilled to meet her. Her mom was the oldest of the nine children. Her mom is still alive and still lives in Red Deer. I hope she can come by one day and see how we have restored the property”. “Just watch”

When Kelly thinks back on her journey from fashion, to machining, to coffee, she characterizes the time as empowering. Kelly shares, “I know that I am up for anything. I’ve always been a bit of a dare devil. If someone tells me I can’t do something, I’ll say, ‘oh, you just watch!’ As a kid, I always loved getting to the top of things or going the fastest. Now, doing different things is fun for me. With coffee, there’s been lots to learn. It’s almost like wine. There are varieties, grading systems, tasting notes, and traditions to take care of the plants. Everything on our Colombian farm is all natural. Now, the next step is learning how to roast. It’s its own craft. Things can go wrong in seconds! You must keep smelling, looking at the colour, and listening to the cracks in the beans. Once you get it to where you want, you have to cool everything down in just the right way. Learning how to operate the roaster will be really fun”. Kelly is in the process of getting their roaster approved by the Canadian Standards Association. For now, you can view it in the Stone House. “People come in and look at it all the time, which we love. We want to educate people on the coffee growing and roasting process”, Kelly states.

When Kelly thinks about the future, she thinks both locally and globally. Kelly shares, “In ten years, I hope we still have the Stone House, and are connecting our Sylvan community to coffee around the world. I would love to take White Frog to a place where we are visiting other countries and purchasing coffee like we do in Colombia – in a way that supports and meets the needs of farmers – in places like Ethiopia or Hawaii”.

What does it mean to live your life on point?

“Trying to be true to myself”, Kelly shares with a pause. “It’s tough to answer. The last few years have been wonderful, but also difficult. You can imagine being at home, often alone, with two boys… I always try to keep what’s important in the forefront. Family is #1 and I try to balance it with helping other people”.