January 2014
| Business World Magazine | 175
A similar curriculum is being discussed
with appropriate entities at Katechis’s alma
mater, Auburn University, but the flagship
give-back project – Oskar Blues CAN’d Aid
Foundation – strikes a more pertinent chord
in the aftermath of the devastating floods in
Colorado in 2013.
The foundation was created in September
as a way to develop national partnerships to
maximize fundraising efforts for the com-
munities of Lyons and Longmont, which
were particularly hard hit.
Between Sept. 15 and Dec. 31, the foun-
dation raised $535,000.
“We have a philanthropic organization
and we had plans to do some things in 2014,
but the flood that happened in Colorado
really just kicked us in the ass and forced
us to do it a few months early,” Melis says.
“We took that challenge and went and got a
501 (c)3 certification, created that company
from scratch and just went out and started
raising funds. The goal of that foundation
was to mimic how we operated on the busi-
ness side, which is execute very quickly. The
goal was to get that money in and get that
money out.”
