The Town squad have been taking part in the annual hospital and hospice visits and TWTD caught up with striker James Norwood at St Elizabeth Hospice yesterday.
The striker was joined by Teddy Bishop, Freddie Sears, Janoi Donacien and Idris El Mizouni to distribute presents, paid for from donations by the first-team squad from their wages, while other players have spent time at Ipswich Hospital's Bergholt Ward and East Anglia's Children Hospice this week.
Colchester Hospital, West Suffolk Hospital and St Nicholas Hospice in Bury St Edmunds have also received presents and donations.
Norwood says the visits are important for players to take part in: "Massively, it’s part of the community. It’s great to meet people. I’ve met a wonderful woman called Edith, found out she supports West Ham like I do and then she turns round and said she’d love to see how Ipswich get on. It’s making new fans all the time.
"It’s important for us to be out in the community, meeting new people and talking about their interests as well as ours. It’s just a great thing to do.
"We’re in a privileged position where we get to meet people from all walks of life and get to enjoy it and there might be some fans in there that get to meet their heroes, it works both ways.
"I’ve made friends with a couple of people now, so it’s a different experience but we all look forward to it and it’s always nice to be able to bring some Christmas cheer.”
He added: "It’s nice to come away from the football for a minute, we’ll be here for a couple of hours, take our minds off the four games in about 10 or 12 days over the Christmas period.
"I think players come away feeling a lot more fortunate, coming out of a place like today, realising how lucky we are.”
He says it’s a reminder that there are bigger things in life than football: "Of course, it always takes something bad to happen for people to turn around and say that, so it’s nice to be in a position where we can speak to people who are still upbeat in their situation and it does make you realise how fortunate you are to be doing the thing that love.”
Manager Paul Lambert believes the visits are a significant part of the club’s work in the locality.
"Absolutely incredibly important to the club, to the community and to the hospitals themselves and that’s great,” he said.
"I think the lads have been brilliant going to do what they’re doing. It’s really, really important.
"That’s life, that’s tough, the most important thing is your health. We’re in a fortunate position being a sportsperson or a sports manager, but that’s the reality. This is easy compared to that.”