The charity, based at Rugby Park, is committed to improving the lives of those within Ayrshire by using the power of football to inspire positive change in health and wellbeing outcomes for local people.

The new partnership with Persimmon will focus on Killie Community’s employability programme and a number of other initiatives run by the charity. As one of the largest house builders in Ayrshire, Persimmon will work alongside Killie Community to support their programme of activities through site visits, trade talks and much more.

In 2022, Killie Community supported 7,600 people through 12 different programmes across Ayrshire. Programmes and projects delivered by the charity are carried out in partnership with organisations such as Alzheimer’s Scotland to deliver activities such as Football Memories, which supports those with Alzheimer’s reminisce over historical football matches as part of a group.

Following a £5,000 donation to the charity, Persimmon cemented the partnership by repairing a memorial wall at the entrance to Rugby Park.

Chris Logan, managing director at Persimmon West Scotland, said: “We’re delighted to sign-up as Killie Community’s first ever Corporate Patron.

“Killie Community is an outstanding organisation that helps so many people every day across Ayrshire. The breadth of their work in supporting the local community is a credit to everyone involved.

“As one of Ayrshire’s largest home builders, we want to support the communities we operate in and we hope that through this partnership we can help Killie Community to reach more local people than ever before.”

Jordan Allison, head of charity at Kilmarnock FC, said: “Our charity is growing due largely to the high demand for our programmes across Ayrshire. We’re grateful this has been acknowledged by Persimmon West Scotland, and the support they have offered us already has been great. We’re excited about what’s to come.”

Cathy Jamieson, director of Kilmarnock FC, said: “I am delighted that Persimmon is partnering with Killie Community in this exciting new development. It will bring benefits to the programmes Killie Community is currently running as well as helping support new initiatives. We are looking forward to working with Persimmon.”