Oskar Blues | 13 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 communities of Lyons and Longmont, which were particularly hard hit. Between Sept. 15 and Dec. 31, the foundation 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 business side, which is execute very quickly. The goal was to get that money in and get that money out.”
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