BASF has donated $1 million to agencies supporting Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery efforts in the company's site communities in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. 

In addition to direct cash donations, the company has established the BASF Katrina Relief Fund with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to accept employee and retiree contributions to aid those affected by Hurricane Katrina, primarily in Ascension Parish, where BASF's Geismar, Louisiana site is located.

"In keeping with BASF's tradition of helping the communities surrounding our sites, we will do everything we can to assist people whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath," said BASF Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Klaus Peter Loebbe

"We are still learning the full extent of the devastation. As we hold those whoare going through so much pain and suffering in our thoughts and prayers, we are committed to supporting the relief and recovery efforts and help meet the challenges of the days and weeks ahead."

Person power

In addition to monetary donations, individual BASF employees are involved in a wide range of volunteer activities, ranging from caring for displaced pets at Lamar-Dixon to housing and feeding families displaced from their homes by the hurricane. One employee and her father opened their Gonzales home to 16 people they had never met.

When BASF became aware that emergency responders headquartered at the Sorrento Lions Club lodge in Ascension Parish urgently needed supplies, the company donated air mattresses, pillows, refreshments, TVs and other supplies. This Lions Club lodge is serving as the headquarters for more than 100 law enforcement officers from Louisiana and other states.

"Our employees have been great and have really jumped into the effort to help the victims of Katrina," said Mike Cohen, senior vice president and general manager of BASF's Geismar site. "Employees have been involved in many facets of the relief effort, from delivering much-needed supplies to inviting evacuees into their homes."