First, someone stole his kettle stand.

Then his bell’s clapper fell apart.

But once a pair of bundled-up little girls braved the brisk downtown wind to drop a few coins into his bright red bucket, Joe Takacs knew the holidays would be happy once more.

The modest donation kicked off the Salvation Army’s annual red-kettle fund-raising campaign the way that Takacs, chairman of the organization’s advisory board, knows that it should have: with determined generosity in the face of adversity.

“Thank you and merry Christmas,” he told Calihan and Brogan Scott, between rings of his loaned bell outside US Bank, 900 Mass. “Merry Christmas.”

About 50 people joined Takacs, the Scott family and members of the Four Leaf Clover 4-H band Friday morning to ring in the formal start of the area’s most audible drive for donations.

With their plastic kettles arrayed in parking lots and entryways outside 13 businesses across town, ringers are working to collect $75,000 this holiday season. Donations will help the Salvation Army accomplish its mission of serving the underprivileged or those otherwise in need.

While the goal is the same as last year’s, officials are hoping for better results this time. Last year’s drive came up about $10,000 short, putting the squeeze on programs as the economy faltered.

This year, the Salvation Army already is struggling to meet even-greater demand for its services, said Rich Forney, the organization’s administrator in Lawrence. The food pantry and homeless shelter are as busy as ever, and programs for providing bus tokens, rental assistance and utility subsidies are exhausted before everyone’s needs are met.

“It doesn’t take us long to spend $10,000. This month it took us about four hours,” Forney said. “We’re seeing a lot of new people this year, and that’s a sign of the times. It’s the economic situation. A lot of people are one paycheck away from being on the street.”

Joe Takacs, chairman of the Salvation Army's advisory board, helped kick off the agency's annual red-kettle fund-raiser Friday at Ninth and Massachusetts streets.

Ringers tend to their kettles from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. or 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays during the holiday season. This year’s campaign started Nov. 14.

It hasn’t always been smooth.

Last week, someone ran off with the hardware that makes the US Bank kettle spot possible. And while the kettle itself was secure — the Salvation Army empties and keeps the locked containers each night — the theft left officials wondering whether it was an omen of events to come.

“They stole the whole kettle stand — with our kettle lock on it, the sign, the base and everything,” Forney said. “Those cost more than $100, and we don’t have the money to get one in.”

But as passersby filled the downtown kettle — this one perched atop a stand borrowed from another site in town — with handfuls of coins and folded-up bills, the joy of the season had returned.

“We appreciate everyone’s donations to the Salvation Army,” Takacs said, still ringing his borrowed bell, after the crowd had dispersed. “Even the smallest amount you can give, it all adds up. Even if you can’t give a dollar, or $5, $10 or $20, if you can give change, it helps.”

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