The Council on Aging has been getting an unexpected helping hand from a  Massachusetts charity that focuses on helping seniors.

Pearl Cohen of the Bridgewater-based New Concepts Fund Inc. says that she uses internet search engines to find areas that may need help, and Wareham just happened to be one of the communities she found that could use a boost.

"What we do is we go all over the state and we hold collections," said Cohen, who was seated outside the Main Street post office with her colleague, Richard Schofield, collecting donations on Friday, June 21.

"For Wareham, we've donated cards to the senior center," said Cohen. "We do gift cards because we don't want the contributions to be used on anyone's salary."

Pam Dudley, office manager at the Council on Aging, says that the donations from New Concepts came out of the blue, and stressed that the organization sought the Council on Aging out, not the other way around.

"They just popped in one day and gave us food cards as a donation, and every so often they come back," said Dudley. "Off and on, for probably a year at least, they drop in with food cards. Sometimes we're completely unaware" that they'll be dropping by.

Dudley says that the cards are helpful because they can help people in need purchase things the pantry cannot not stock.

"The food cards can buy things that we don't have," said Dudley. "We have non-perishable things, so [the cards] would be for milk, butter, bread."

Cohen says that the organization has done similar projects in Stoughton, Halifax, Brockton, and Easton.

"Even in the wealthier communities," Cohen says, "there's always a need."

The Council on Aging's food pantry, open every other week from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., is for seniors age 60 and older and the disabled. For more information, contact 508-291-3130.