For once, the Alachua County Tax Collector's Office does not want money.
It wants old cell phones.
The office has already collected 6,876 cell phones from county residents for Cell Phones for Soldiers, a national organization that uses money raised from recycled cell phones to buy calling cards for American troops stationed overseas.
The office hopes to collect 7,500 cell phones by July 4.
Stephanie Kelley, the director of human resources at the Alachua County Tax Collector's Office, heard about the program on National Public Radio.
After discovering that Gainesville had no collection centers for recycled cell phones, Kelley asked Alachua County Tax Collector Von Fraser if the county's three tax collector offices could be used as collection locations. The collection program kicked off in February 2006.
The phones are shipped to a recycling company, and the company sends the money from recycling the phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers.
The program then uses the money to buy calling cards. Each recycled phone provides an hour of talk time, according to the program's Web site.
Kelley said she believes that anybody who goes overseas should be able to call home.
Roxanne Watkins, the director of the downtown branch of the Alachua County Tax Collector's Office, has a son serving as a sergeant in the Marines in Iraq.
Watkins helps get the calling cards from Cell Phones for Soldiers and, alongside the Military Support Group of Alachua County, places them in care packages for troops.
The support group is in charge of mailing the care packages to the soldiers.
Watkins said the program is a community effort, which includes Alachua County and surrounding counties like Clay County.
She said returning troops come to the Military Support Group's meetings and comment about the care packages and phone cards. The troops have generally expressed appreciation for the service.
"We get a lot of positive feedback," she said. "That's why we continue to do it because we want to continue to touch the lives of all of the troops."
