BASF in Seneca recognized for support of veterans

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BASF in Seneca was recently recognized for its support of area veterans and their families with the Hammer Award, a national honor distributed by Purple Heart Homes, which provides housing solutions for disabled and aging veterans.

The Hammer Award recognizes organizations for their commitment and dedication to helping veterans and their families with projects that allow them to safely remain in their homes, according to a news release.

On Oct. 3, Purple Heart Homes Golden Corner Chapter President Larry Druffel presented the award to leaders of the BASF Seneca Veterans Employee Team, which is made up of team members who are active service members, former service members and those who support veterans. The team offers opportunities for employees to connect with veterans, both internally and externally to BASF, and to support the local community, the news release said. Over the past two years, the VETS team has spent more than 560 hours and more than 10 weekends making home repairs and improvements in and around Seneca to improve quality of life for veterans and their families, in addition to 135 volunteer hours for other organizations.

This spring, BASF’s VETS volunteers rebuilt a safer and easier-to-access wheelchair ramp for the widow of a local Korean War veteran. The VETS team improved another home’s masonry and built a new deck for a former United States Marine Corps diesel mechanic who now lives in Iva,  among nearly 10 projects they completed for local veterans in 2022.

“It is an honor to spend our weekends recognizing fellow veterans for the priceless work they’ve done and volunteering to provide safer ways for them to access their homes,” Todd Alexander, co-chair of the BASF Seneca Veterans Employee Team, said in the release.

More projects are being planned.

“BASF is a wonderful place to work for veterans, those transitioning from the military to civilian life, or people who are still in the reserves,” Adam LeRoy, team co-chair, said in the release.  “We have such strong support from leadership for veterans. In fact, BASF’s site director, Elba (Lizardi), saw the work we’d been doing with Purple Heart Homes and decided to purchase and donate an entire trailer full of tools so our team didn’t have to borrow and bring our own tools to projects.”

“BASF really values the skills you build in the military, like discipline, teamwork, perseverance, problem solving, and we reward you with great pay and benefits for these important abilities,” Lizardi said in the release.

BASF currently has dozens of open positions and is looking for new team members, including veterans, reserve members and those returning to civilian life.

BASF’s site in Seneca is one of five BASF sites in South Carolina. The Seneca site employs 425 workers and additional contractors. This site is a specialty chemical catalysts manufacturing and precious metal refining facility.