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The Wishing Tree at Palmerston North Hospital. Donated gifts are collected by Salvation Army and gifted to families in need. The Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal has become the longest and largest gift giving appeal for Christmas in New Zealand. The Salvation Army helps distribute the donated presents. “The staff here at MidCentral are very generous. They just pile up the parcels. Most of it is not from the public, but from the staff. Every time they open the doors, somebody brings something,” Pigott said. She was pleased the Fitzherbert Lions’ Club and Pub Charity gifted a new and bigger tree to the hospital this year as the old one was disintegrating. However, it has arrived just as Pigott intends to depart.