Every Tuesday morning, Bernard Chen rolls up his sleeves at Samaritan House in San Mateo. 

"I think it's just a great way to give back and connect with the community. And I spend a lot of time eating or thinking about food. So for me, this is a natural extension," Chen, a volunteer, told CBS News Bay Area. 

He's been volunteering with Samaritan House for the past two years. 

"I used to run a data science company, and now I do volunteering and some other light consulting," Chen said. 

Working alongside dozens of volunteers, he helps whip up more than a thousand meals to serve to the community on Tuesdays. 

"Our customer base has increased something like 10% a year. Every year, for the last two or three years. And I suspect it's going to be the same kind of thing this year, if not more," he added. 

Chen, along with fellow volunteer Patti Hsiu, are noticing the increase in demand. 

 "Thousands of people are getting fed good food, good nutritious stuff. Same kind of stuff I might make for my own family," Hsiu told CBS News Bay Area. 

Hsiu has been volunteering at Samaritan House for more than two decades. 

"That is the mission in life to just serve my community. This is where I live, and I want to help people where I live," she said. 

That is also the mission Laura Bent, the CEO, lives by. 

"We're seeing an increased demand, and we expect to see an even higher increased demand," Bent told CBS News Bay Area. "Currently, we're over 30,000. We anticipate being over 32 to 33,000 pretty quickly in the New Year."

Bent oversees about 3,000 volunteers, who manage the drive-thru food pantry, dining room and the community market. But, there are some challenges they are facing. 

"With all of the cuts that are going on, our largest food partner has received the cuts the same way that we're seeing in the community. So, we're seeing a reduction of food come in. And so, our organization is having to pivot and really ask the community to step up and support the organization. Every dollar counts, every hour counts," she said. 

Volunteers like Chen are putting in every valuable hour into his community. 

"I feel really proud of what we can do. Because we take half of a pig, and feed 50 people instead of half a pig and I don't know what a normal person would do with that," Chen said.