For many people, Christmas is a time for giving presents in order to allow others to feel joy. This year, for the second time, DS Smith has decided to make a donation of 50,000 euros to the UNICEF charity campaign 'Donations. Instead of gifts' instead of giving its customers Christmas gifts. The money is used to help refugee children.

"Our customers gave the impulse, that we decided last year to make a donation via the DS Smith Charitable Foundation instead of the usual christmas gifts for our customers," says Michael Lamprecht, Director Sales & Market at DS Smith. "Last year's positive feedback and the current state of emergency for thousands of refugees, many of which are children, has encouraged us to continue on this path."

Per V Frederiksen, Managing Director of DS Smith in the Germany & Switzerland region adds: "It is a part of our company values to be caring. We care about our customers, our people and the world around us. We would like to actively take over responsibility and contribute towards giving refugee children a future, that's why we are supporting the UNICEF campaign."

"Clean drinking water, medication, winter clothing, a warm blanket, the opportunity to receive an education - these are all things that we normally don't have to think twice about in our region. For children in war zones and on the arduous escape from Syria they make a decisive difference. By forgoing a small gift, our customers give children in need a gift that could change their lives," says Anja Röhrle, Marketing Manager at DS Smith.

"The emphasis of the UNICEF aid for refugee children is in working locally in Syria and its neighbouring countries. The families there are trying to survive under the toughest of conditions. They desperately need help - and an outlook for the future of their native region," explain Eike Otto and Hermann Eichel from the UNICEF Fulda working group. "At the same time, thousands of people are fleeing their war-torn homeland. UNICEF is helping here, too - above all, children and mothers with babies. We are very pleased that DS Smith is once again so generously supporting the 'Donations. Instead of gifts' campaign by UNICEF."