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BASF makes a difference in the Charlotte community
From supporting science education at local schools to championing sustainability, we are proud of the efforts made by BASF employees in Charlotte to give back to their communities. Whether it's volunteering time and resources to help local schools improve their science programs or working to reduce our environmental impact through sustainable practices, our team is dedicated to making a positive impact in the communities where we live and work. We believe that by working together and supporting each other, we can build stronger, more resilient communities that will thrive for generations to come.
2023
2023
Thanks to the sponsorship from BASF Charlotte, Discovery Place Kids-Huntersville was able to provide a unique and engaging educational experience on chemistry to more than 6,100 guests for Calendar Year 2022. The program, led by the Discovery Place outreach programs team with the assistance of BASF Charlotte employees, offered hands-on activities for children to explore the fascinating world of STEM. This initiative is an excellent way to inspire and encourage young minds to pursue their interests in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Spring 2023
The partnership between the Charlotte site and Promising Pages for the Books on Break program is truly inspiring. During this Spring 2023 initiative, children from Title I or under-resourced area schools were provided with summer reading books. Promising Pages organizes free book fairs for students in grades Pre-K through fifth grade every year, allowing each student to choose five books to take home and read over the summer months. This year, the organization will distribute over 66,000 books to 10,500 students in 23 schools. It's heartening to witness communities coming together to help young children develop a love for reading, and initiatives like Books on Break are making a real difference.
March 2023
The Charlotte site teamed up with Roof Above to make a huge difference in our community. Together, we made more than 600 sandwiches and packed them into 300 lunch bags for our neighbors in need. Thanks to everyone who pitched in, we were able to finish the assembly ahead of schedule. It's amazing what we can achieve when we work together for a good cause!
February 2023
Regina Escandon Millet, Commercial Marketing Manager, and Susana Porzio, Quality Systems Leader III, led a virtual session for Project Scientist. The session was conducted in Spanish and provided an overview of BASF. The girls who participated in the session remotely were able to experiment with red cabbage and other household items to dye green pancakes. The classroom in California was just one of many that were involved in the session. Project Scientist is a national education non-profit that helps girls discover the fun and excitement of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.
January Season 2023
Members of the AAEG Charlotte chapter and other colleagues volunteered at Loaves and Fishes to pay tribute to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through community service. The group worked together to pack 400 boxes of food for families in need, which amounted to over 1,000 meals for individuals in our community.
2022
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Holiday Season 2022
The Charlotte site collected two boxes of new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots during the 2022 holiday season. It was heartwarming to see so many people come together to make a difference in the lives of children in need. Thank you to everyone who participated! Your generosity and kindness will make a world of difference for these children.
November 2022
Our Charlotte sustainability team had a special visit from a group of Cub Scouts from BSA Palmetto Council at the Westinghouse facility. It was great to see the Scouts working hard towards their World Conservation Award by building birdhouses for bluebirds. These birdhouses will be placed around the Charlotte gardens to provide safe and cozy nests for these beautiful birds. What's even more impressive is that the birdhouses were constructed using recycled wood from the lab.
The Scouts were also given a tour of the lab, where they saw the origin of the recycled material. During the visit, a wildlife educator from Mecklenburg County presented a fascinating lesson about pollinators' role in the ecosystem. It was a great learning experience for everyone involved.
We would like to give a big thank you to all our BASF volunteers who supported this event! Without your help, it wouldn't have been possible to provide such a meaningful experience for the Scouts.
Fall 2022
Thank you to everyone who has participated in the fall 2022 United Way campaign! We have already surpassed our 2021 donation total by 40 percent, with contributions still coming in! It's incredible to see the impact we can make when we come together as a community. We ended the campaign with $20,000 in pledged deductions and one-time gifts.
As we continue to support the United Way of Central Carolinas, we are making a difference in the lives of our neighbors and friends. Your gift is an investment in our community, and it will help to provide crucial resources and support to those who need it most. Thank you for your kindness and dedication to making the world a better place.
April 2022
Through BASF Charlotte’s sponsorship with Discovery Place Kids-Huntersville, dozens of fourth and fifth-grade students at Winget Park Elementary School in Charlotte experienced interactive, hands-on chemistry learning during sessions led by Discovery Place’s outreach programs team with assistance from BASF Charlotte employees. The students took part in live chemistry experiments taken from BASF’s Kids’ Lab program, which enhances science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) related education for students.
March 2022
Charlotte-based BASF senior executive Denise Hartmann recently penned an Op-Ed for the Charlotte Observer about the importance of support and comprehensive protections for the LGBTQ+ community in North Carolina.
In the piece, Denise shares that, “The benefits are quite clear. Comprehensive protections for LGBTQ+ people against discrimination would not only make North Carolina a more attractive destination for the best and brightest talent, it would also strengthen our state’s economy. At the same time, it would help companies like ours create the conditions where employees can truly thrive and achieve their fullest potential, which benefits us all.”
Read the full Op-Ed here: NC business exec: The patchwork of LGBTQ+ protections in NC isn’t enough
Denise Hartmann
March 2022
BASF Charlotte is helping young people in the Charlotte Metro explore the exciting world of chemistry through a new sponsorship with Discovery Place Kids-Huntersville. The Museum will offer BASF Kids’ Lab curriculum one weekend per month through July 2022 and outreach programs at select area schools through June 2022. Learn more and view the BASF Kids’ Lab Weekend schedule.
2021
December 2021
BASF’s Charlotte site employees helped to make holiday wishes come true for children who need it most across the Charlotte region by sponsoring 50 Angels through the Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte’s Angel Tree program.
November 2021
BASF Charlotte employees helped to make a difference for those in need across the Charlotte community by raising nearly $11,000 during the site’s 2021 campaign to support the United Way of Central Carolinas.
United Way of Central Carolinas fights for every person's education, health, and financial stability in our community. With their network of more than 100 partners, they work daily to create an environment of opportunity for thousands of families in neighborhoods across our area.
September 2021
BASF in Charlotte is serving as a Feed the Body, Feed the Mind sponsor of Promising Pages. The organization collects new and donated books and distributes them to students and organizations, with the goal of eliminating book deserts and providing a free resource to those who need it most.
The Charlotte site purchased 500 new, diverse STEM books that will be distributed through the Promising Pages partners Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays and Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina.
July 2021
The BASF Charlotte site recently donated 525 snack packs to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina's Backpack Program, along with more than 50 tubes of toothpaste, more than 90 toothbrushes, and other general food donations.
The Backpack Program provides a backpack full of nutritious, ready-to-eat, or easy-to-prepare foods that are sent home on weekends and holidays when school meals are not available. More than 200,000 backpacks are provided annually at over 200 distribution sites in 17 counties that the Food Bank serves.
Because of the generosity of BASF employees, the Charlotte site exceeded its goal of 500 snack packs to support the Backpack Program! In total, 260 pounds were donated to Second Harvest.
July 2021
Danielle Foley, Product Safety & Stewardship Manager and Sustainability Champion for BASF in Charlotte, recently joined approximately 100 K-5 students at Kensington Elementary School's Summer Learning Camp virtually to explore chemistry.
She shared an overview of her role at BASF, how she came to like chemistry, and offered students insights into how BASF uses chemistry to help make the things people use every day.
The session's highlight was a chemistry experiment focused on acid-base reactions. Danielle used common kitchen ingredients to demonstrate how to blow up a balloon with baking soda and vinegar – an activity that delighted students and teachers alike.
July 2021
The BASF Charlotte team joined 3rd through 5th-grade students at Benton Heights Elementary School virtually to share about careers in chemistry and how exciting chemistry can be as a career choice.
BASF Technical Specialist Stephanie Carouthers also offered an engaging presentation where she led students and teachers through the Elephant Toothpaste science experiment from the You Be the Chemist 5th edition activity guide and explained the chemical components of the ingredients in the experiment.
Responding to questions from curious students about how altering ingredients would change the experiment’s outcome, Stephanie switched things up during the session to demonstrate different reactions based on changing chemical elements. “The fun of chemistry is seeing what happens when you make a small change,” she told the students.
July 2021
To kick off July, BASF continued its support of Union County Public Schools’ summer learning camps by joining East Union Middle School for a virtual science experiment.
BASF chemist Julio Cuellar gave students insights into his role at BASF, the critical work done by chemists and scientists, and then led students and teachers through the Elephant Toothpaste science experiment from the You Be the Chemist 5th edition activity guide.
Julio also weaved culture into the session, sharing Spanish translations for chemistry terms – including that the word “chemistry” in Spanish is química!
June 2021
Chemistry is everywhere, including how fizzy drinks, like sodas, are made.
The BASF Charlotte team recently led hundreds of sixth and seventh grade students at Monroe Middle School in Monroe, North Carolina, through a virtual chemistry experiment that focused on acid-base reactions.
Using the simple ingredients of the juice from a lemon, water, and baking soda, the students created a fizzy lemon drink that demonstrated how carbon dioxide (CO2) is formed by mixing lemon juice (an acid) and baking soda (a base) to cause a chemical reaction (fizz).
June 2021
The BASF Charlotte team recently joined more than 150 K-5 students at Fairview Elementary School in Monroe, North Carolina, to lead a virtual science experiment that explored how tornados are formed.
Using water, dish soap, glitter, and an empty and clean glass or jar with a tight-fitting top, the students made a "water" tornado and discussed the weather ingredients needed for a tornado to form, along with exploring the motion of a tornado.
May 2021
BASF understands the importance of introducing science at an early age! That's why we were thrilled to join the Girl Scouts Hornets' Nest Council 2973 virtual troop meeting to lead dozens of excited Scouts through a virtual science experiment.
Our team guided the Scouts through the popular "Elephant Toothpaste" chemistry experiment from the You Be The Chemist 5th Edition Activity Guide. Many of the Scouts followed along with the activity using their own materials at home and were active participants, asking questions along the way.
March 2021
We create chemistries in the communities we serve by helping students get excited about science! Through BASF's partnership with the Chemical Educational Foundation, BASF Charlotte employees recently guided the 5th grade class at Oakdale STEAM Elementary School in Rock Hill, SC, through a virtual science project.
The BASF team prepared and dropped off BASF Kids' Lab backpacks at the school with the items for the project and then worked with the students over video to complete an "Elephant Toothpaste" chemistry experiment from the You Be The Chemist 5th Edition Activity Guide.
April 2021
Ahead of Earth Day 2021, the Charlotte Technical Center (CTC) Sustainability Team hosted an outdoor pollinator planting event at BASF's Steele Creek and Westinghouse sites.
One of the 2021 initiatives for the team is to earn a Wildlife Habitat Certification to support beautification efforts at the sites. Planting a pollinator garden is one of many ways to obtain the certification. This kind of garden is planted and designed with specific nectar and pollen-producing plants to attract pollinating insects known as pollinators. The pollinator event was an exciting step towards improving the Charlotte site’s environmental impact while supporting employee wellbeing.
On a Saturday in April, 22 volunteers helped take the first step to obtain the Wildlife Habitat Certification by successfully planting the pollinator gardens at both the Steele Creek and Westinghouse sites.
2021 Campaign
BASF Charlotte is a proud sponsor of the 2021 Charlotte Man & Woman of the Year fundraising campaign for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® (LLS). LLS is a global leader in the fight against cancer. The mission of LLS is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. To donate and support the BASF Charlotte LLS 2021 Man & Woman of the Year fundraising effort, visit www.HartmannsHope.com. Contributions accepted through June 3, 2021.
To learn more about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, visit www.lls.org.