Football and local charity will go hand in hand this season after Demelza Hospice were named the Kent FA charity partner for the 2014/15 season.

Fans voted in their numbers to make Demelza the charity partner for the Kent FA, giving them the chance to have their name associated with the Intermediate Challenge Shield.

Having supported the Kent Air Ambulance for the past three seasons, the Kent FA decided it was time for a change and allowed football fans the chance as to who they would be supporting this season through their fundraising.

With Demelza Hospice being well known within the community, Chief Executive of the Kent FA, Paul Dolan, believes it was a good choice by fans:

“As part of our corporate social responsibility we always see the need to reinvest back into the local community and we have had three good years with Kent Air Ambulance and we felt it was time to broaden our horizons.”

“We are really pleased that Demelza came out on top and we are looking forward to a good season of fundraising.”

“They will get the naming rights for the Kent Intermediate Challenge Shield, so we will be specifically looking to support the clubs involved in that to do some fundraising. It won’t be limited to just that competition though and we will be thinking of as many imaginative ways to raise funds for Demelza as we can.”

Sport and charities go hand in hand and Dolan believes it is an opportunity for local football fans to get some positivity around fundraising:

“Sometimes football gets some negative publicity through certain actions on the pitch, but it does have an incredible power to bring people together for worth causes.”

“The good thing about grass roots football is the appeal and the amount of people involved in it and that helps us to engage with them and get as much money as we can for worthy causes such as Demelza.”

Demelza look to raise around £11 million a year to sustain the great work they do for children within the county and Chief Execuive Steve Hoy is pleased have the support of the Kent FA for the season ahead:

“It’s a fantastic opportunity and we’re delighted with the opportunity we have to fund raise through the Kent FA and one of the opportunities we are looking at is how we engage with the brothers and sisters of the children we look after and see if we can something with them and football.”

“We are also looking at the chance of an initiative with the Kent FA where the parents get involved and that will help them share some of the issues that they will face in the future.”

“Hopefully football will encourage some dialogue as we all know what us blokes are like as we don’t like to share our feelings. Using football as a tool it will be a fantastic opportunity going forward.”

“We’re delighted so many people voted for Demelza as we’re not only encouraged that people are aware of us, but raising £11 million a year, people probably don’t realise that only a fifth of that comes from the government.”

You can support the fantastic work that Demelza do in the community by visiting their website: www.demelza.org.uk