Local Salvation Army kettles should be well-tended this weekend, according to local officers.

The Thanksgiving weekend is the official kickoff for the Salvation Army’s brigade of bell-ringing kettle minders, according to Capt. John Bennett, corps officer of the Lewiston Salvation Army.

“We’ve had some people out for two weeks or so at some places,” Bennett said. “But basically the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is our best time. That’s when the bells start.”

Bennett said he has had a great response from local bell-ringing volunteers.

Several local organizations typically take over entire scheduled slots, leaving individual volunteers to fill time in between.

“But we’ve been blessed with volunteers this year,” he said. “The biggest problem is finding places to put the kettles.”

Most places in the Twin Cities welcome the kettles. They’ll be posted in front of Sears and Marden’s in Lewiston; Big Lots, Kmart, Wal-Mart and the Auburn Mall in Auburn; and both downtown Shaw’s stores.

BJ’s Wholesale is letting Bennett put an unattended kettle at its entrance this year, in part because of store policy.

“They don’t want people out in front, greeting their customers,” Bennett said.

Having the unattended kettle is nice, he said.

“But it doesn’t work as well if you don’t have someone standing there thanking them and making eye contact,” he said.

Target Stores nationwide have asked the Salvation Army to keep its bell-ringers away from their stores.

“But we don’t have a Target here, so that’s no problem for us,” Bennett said.

The local group is working with Salvation Army teams from New Hampshire and Vermont this year raising money via the Internet. Web surfers can go to www.netkettle.com to donate money to their local group or to host a link on the Web site.

“Our level of funding has been flat, pretty much since Sept. 11,” Bennett said. “We’re raising the same money, not more or less. But our costs have gone up, just like everybody’s has. We’re getting the same dollars, but we’re not getting as much for our dollars. So everything helps.”