In between offering facials, chemical peels and massages, Helen Rapoza is collecting old cell phones.

The owner of Helen's Haven, a tiny spa on Kilauea Avenue, is helping a national nonprofit called Cell Phones for Soldiers meet its goal of 15,000 donated cell phones each month to help American military people overseas stay in touch with their loved ones at home.

Rapoza said she was inspired to sign up for the project by her brother, who is in the Army, and her father, a former Pan American pilot who volunteered to fly American soldiers in Vietnam on rest-and-recreation tours.

"A lot of them (the soldiers) don't have a way to contact their families," she said. "The spouses sit at home waiting for the phone to ring. We can help them ring."

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded in 2004 by Brittany Bergquist, 13, and her brother, Robbie, 12, of Norwell, Mass. The youngsters started the nonprofit after hearing about a soldier in Iraq who ran up thousands of dollars in phone charges by calling home.

Drop-off sites across the United States mail the used phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers, which sells them to a recycler and uses the money to purchase calling cards to send to military members overseas.

Each donated phone amounts to about an hour of talk time, according to the organization's Web site.

Individuals with loved ones in the military who would like to request cards for them can fill out a form on the site. The site also offers prepaid mailing labels.

Hawai'i has seven drop-off sites, including ones on Maui and the Big Island.

Since signing up as a drop-off site earlier this year, the offices shared by Liberty Tax Service and United Benefit Financial Services have collected more than 40 phones at their two sites on O'ahu — one in 'Aiea, one in Wahiawa.

"It's one small way to give back to the troops and their families what they give and put on the line for us on a daily basis," said Dave Wier, who owns the Liberty Tax Service franchise. "It's the least we can do."

Rapoza is optimistic about helping the organization, which now has more than 3,000 drop-off sites, reach its goal of 15,000 phones collected a month.

"That's five cell phones per site," she said. "I mean, c'mon, we did that without even saying anything to anybody. You probably have five cell phones in your closet."

Her personal goal is to gather 100 phones each month.

"I think with the amount of people who live in Honolulu, we should be able to do that easily," she said.

"Of course, exceeding the goal is always good."