DS Smith donates € 50,000 to UNICEF to support children in need

Fulda, 29 November 2017. On the occasion of Christmas, we always prepare nice gifts to please those who are close to us. This year again and for the fourth time in a row, DS Smith has decided to do without customer gifts and, instead of that, to make a donation worth € 50,000 to the UNICEF campaign "Donations Instead of Gifts". Once again, DS Smith together with its customers offers support to refugee children in need.

"Our customers used to receive different kinds of presents for Christmas," says Stefan Kunzmann, Sales & Marketing Director at DS Smith. "Yet, many of our customers signalled that they would appreciate it if the money spent for presents were donated to charity instead. For this reason, four years ago we decided to make donations for the sake of children in need via our DS Smith Charitable Foundation instead of Christmas presents for our customers."

Per V Frederiksen, Managing Director at DS Smith, emphasises: "Acting sustainably and responsibly is important to us as a company. We are willing to actively assume responsibility. Participation in the UNICEF campaign "Donations Instead of Gifts" year after year enables us to do our bit in giving the children in need a chance of a better future."

“A lot of children grow up amid war and havoc, some of them lost their parents and are completely on their own. They are at risk of suffering from cold, hunger and diseases. The hardship is even worse in winter," adds Anja Röhrle, Marketing & Communication Manager at DS Smith. "So, we are very happy to support UNICEF in providing relief to these children with the money donated, and to supply them with winter clothing, blankets and heating materials, clean drinking water and medicines. Things we take for granted make children's eyes shine with delight here."

Gudrun Petzoldt-Remmert and Wolfgang Schmid, both from the UNICEF Fulda working group, are delighted to receive the generous donation. They want to stress: "With a contribution of € 50,000, UNICEF can provide, for example, 8,333 warming blankets or 37 emergency tents for the children to receive medical treatment, learn and play in. It is not only about basic supply, it is about another bit of hope."

For further information on the issue of DS Smith's corporate social responsibility, please go to www.dssmith-packaging.de. More detailed information on the UNICEF campaign "Donations Instead of Gifts" can be found under www.unicef.de/spendenstattschenken.

Caption

Giving children hope for Christmas. Per V Frederiksen, Managing Director, Anja Röhrle, Marketing & Communication Manager, and Stefan Kunzmann, Sales & Marketing Director, all from the DS Smith Germany & Switzerland region, handed over the donation cheque worth € 50,000 to Gudrun Petzoldt-Remmert and Wolfgang Schmid, both from the UNICEF Fulda working group (from left to right). With this money, the refugee children in need will get the chance of a future.