The Cocopah Indian Tribe has given $50,000 to the Yuma Community Food Bank.

That monetary gift by itself makes up 8 percent of the local food bank's unrestricted contributions for the coming fiscal year.

“This was just an awesome contribution,” said Carol Ulring, YCFB's director of finance.

Cocopah Councilman Carlos Pereyra said the tribal council was impressed with the work the YCFB does feeding the hungry and that its stories of helping people resonated.

The food bank, which covers Yuma and La Paz counties, serves more than 22,000 people a month. In May, it helped a record 24,436 people.

The Cocopah gift will be dispersed in quarterly payments, starting this month and completed by next June.

The no-strings-attached gift will go toward general operations, or all that goes into actually getting food to clients.

The tribe's giving program, which reaches the greater Yuma community in addition to the Cocopah people and reservation, is funded largely by the successful Cocopah Casino.

YCFB president and CEO Mike Ivers said he was grateful, humbled, enthused “and probably a few other emotions along the way” to receive the donation.

The Cocopah have given several charitable gifts around Yuma over the past few weeks, including a $250 donation to the Crossroads Mission, $500 to the Humane Society of Yuma, $350 to the Cibola High School wrestling program and $10,000 to the Matador Athletic Association at Arizona Western College.

Hillary Davis can be reached at hdavis@yumasun.com or 539-6857. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSHillaryDavis or on Twitter at @YSHillaryDavis.