The Huntsmans’ corporation, foundation and individual family members have contributed more than $10 million to the area of southeast Texas ravaged by the floodwaters produced by Hurricane Harvey.
“As the region begins to recover and rebuild, we want to be part of that process and support the communities that have given us so much over the years,” Jon Huntsman Sr. said Tuesday in Port Neches, Texas, where he announced the donation of $3 million to a newly created Huntsman Flood Fund.
Port Neches is the site of one of a half-dozen facilities that manufacture specialty chemicals for Huntsman Corp. in the “Golden Triangle” of southeast Texas. The nickname applies to the triangular area east of Houston, with corners in the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, and the wealth generated there since a 1901 oil strike in Beaumont.
“We are proud to call southeast Texas home and we are looking forward to the positive impacts these donations will have on the people in the local communities and Huntsman associates that need it most,” Huntsman added.
Details about how the nonprofit fund will operate are still being worked out, said Huntsman Corp. spokeswoman Anne Knisely. She noted that Huntsman hopes to raise an additional $1.5 million for the fund, which already has been bankrolled with $2.5 million from the Huntsman Family Foundation, Huntsman Corp. and corporation board member Wayne Reaud, an attorney in Beaumont.
The fund also has received $500,000 from Gilbert “Buddy” Low, a trial lawyer and Beaumont Foundation of America board member.
The homes of about 100 of Huntsman Corp.’s 1,000 employees in Texas were damaged by the widespread flooding caused by Harvey’s unprecedented rainfall. Huntsman met with some of those employees on a visit to the Port Neches plant, where he announced the fund’s formation and talked with local officials and community leaders about area needs.
Besides compensating employees whose homes were flooded, Knisely said, the company is renting hotel rooms for displaced people and vehicles for those needing transportation.
“A business is only as strong as the men and women who work for it,” Huntsman said. “We hope the fund we are creating will help those impacted by the storm to get back on their feet, whatever their needs may be.”
Huntsman Corp. has owned the Port Neches facility since 1997. In 2012, it moved its corporate headquarters from Salt Lake City to The Woodlands, 30 miles north of Houston. The company has 10,000 employees worldwide and had 2016 revenues of $10 billion.
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Editor’s note: The owner and publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune is Paul Huntsman, son of Jon Huntsman Sr.