The Austin Medical Center would be a different place if the people in the maroon-colored jackets were not around.

Those people are Austin Medical Center Auxiliary volunteers, a group of about 180 whose services vary from greeting patients and visitors at the door, making baby caps and making donations to the hospital and students.

Five of the members, Joanne Jensen, Mary Bissen, Janet Borchardt, Marilyn Wilson and Toni Watts, have volunteered their time for many years and continue to do so.

These women happen to be the board of the group. They meet once every other month to discuss any problem that may arise.

Ranging in age from their 40s to early 90s, the volunteers are involved with blood drives, running the coffee shop, crafts, information desk, gift shop and money counters.

"We have a good group of people," said Borchardt, who can be found working at the information desk. Volunteering gives people who are retired something to do, the women agreed.

For Wilson, it is the interaction with people that one does not have once retired that she enjoys.

Volunteers work once or twice a week, depending on their schedules and preferences.

Each one of them has a reason for volunteering, but they all agree about the benefits in volunteering for them and for the community.

"It gives me a sense of self-satisfaction to know that what I am doing is making someone feel better," said Watts, who has been volunteering for some 17 years.

For Jensen volunteering is a "couple thing." She and her husband have been volunteering for many years. Bissen finds it therapeutic and comforting to help with whatever she can.

The group does not only volunteer its time, but it has also been making donations since 1961 when the scholarship program first began. The scholarships are granted to students going into the medical field. One of their latest donations in 2002 was $30,000 for the education room in the New Heart Center.

Others include $40,000 for a bone density machine in 2000 and $5,635 equipment for the advanced life support training. As for past donations the list is extensive, including $12,000 to the birthing unit.

"It is a great feeling to be of service to the people who need it," Wilson said.

Because many of the people traveled to get away from the cold in the winter season, the women said there is always a need for volunteers.

Of the 180 volunteers, only 10 to 15 of them are men. "It be nice if there were more men working with us," the women said.

In their 43rd annual meeting in October of last year, it was reported that between the October 2001 and September 2002 the volunteers had contributed 12,363 hours. Every year awards are given to those donating their time.

"It's great meeting all the new members and knowing that we are doing a service that benefits the whole community," said Wilson, who was recently elected as the president of the group.