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Columbia Business Monthly

BASF Pledges $50,000 to Seneca Tornado Relief Efforts

Apr 20, 2020 12:35PM ● By David Dykes

Staff Report 

BASF said it pledged $50,000 to the City of Seneca Relief Fund to support community members affected by the recent EF-3 tornado, which caused significant damage to the Seneca area. 

“We are deeply saddened to see the devastation left in the wake of last week’s tornado, but we know that the Seneca community is strong and resilient,” said Tom O’Rourke, site director for BASF’s site in Seneca. “BASF is here to help our neighbors begin the process of rebuilding, and we are committed to supporting the people in our community who were affected by the tornado.”

“As residents of Seneca and the surrounding communities begin the slow process to recovery after the massive destruction and heartbreaking loss of life in the aftermath of the tornado that devastated our area, the City of Seneca is so thankful for and humbled by the generosity and compassion shown to our citizens by our local friends and partners at BASF,” said Seneca Mayor Dan Alexander. “We will work diligently and swiftly to make sure these funds go directly to the people who need it most.”

Officials said the funds pledged by BASF will go directly to support tornado relief victims through the City of Seneca Relief Fund, which is housed at Oconee Federal Bank in Seneca. 

BASF’s site in Seneca in one of six BASF sites in South Carolina. 

The Seneca site employs 400 employees and is a specialty chemical catalysts manufacturing and precious metal refining facility.

BASF customers use those products to produce a wide variety of products including pharmaceuticals, water treatment media for the removal of lead, arsenic and other impurities from drinking water, for fertilizers, herbicides, auto-emission catalysts, plastics, fragrances and more. 

BASF Corp., headquartered in Florham Park, N.J., is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 18,800 employees in North America and had sales of $18.4 billion in 2019.