At 8:29 a.m. yesterday, the Saint Francis School beautification project was set to begin in one minute. There were statues to paint, landscaping to complete, auditoriums to scrub, senior courtyard tables to be transformed, and thousands of pounds of rubber chips to be bagged, toted and scattered around the new preschool playground.

A total of 26 parents and 24 students stood ready to make a difference.

The small group was among a legion of 3 million volunteers from across the nation yesterday who were poised to show compassion, assist the needy and participate in good-deed projects. It was all part of Make A Difference Day — an annual national celebration of neighbors helping neighbors.

On O'ahu, much of the kindness was done in the pouring rain — apparently one thing that didn't make a difference.

"The rain does make it more challenging — but Saint Francis (of Assisi) was used to rising to challenges," said Sister Joan of Arc Souza, who attended and graduated from the Manoa school, taught classes there, and, for the past 18 years, has been school principal.

Later, with the work under way, Souza was personally adding the finishing touches to the school's large statue of Saint Francis of Assisi that was commissioned more than a half-century ago. It's one of two Saint Francis statues at the campus, and one of the few statues of the patron saint of animals holding a book (usually he is depicted with birds or other creatures).

"We have four statues on the property that we're painting today," said Souza, who mentioned the beautification project was in keeping with the school's policy of requiring students to complete 100 hours of community service before she or he can graduate.

"That's a minimum," she quickly added.

Other Make A Difference Day events were scheduled across Hawai'i.

In Wai'anae, volunteers were to be trained to assist in a program to bring separated siblings in foster care together once a month.

In Hilo, the Hawai'i chapter of Project Linus expected to collect handmade blankets for kids in need. Back on O'ahu, families of deployed U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy personnel planned to paint world and U.S. maps in the campus halls at Mokapu Elementary School.

The Sisters of Saint Francis of the Neumann Communities founded Saint Francis School in 1924. For 82 years it was an all-girls school, and recently it became coeducational. It has also been part of the national day of volunteerism.

Make A Difference Day, held the fourth Saturday of October, was created 18 years ago by USA Weekend Magazine to encourage service.

Volunteer Elizabeth Kooiman, 16, a Saint Francis junior, enjoyed her Make A Difference Day project so much she barely considered it service work. She and her team were charged with removing a dilapidated, termite-riddled piano from the school's old auditorium.

There were two options: One, rip out an auditorium wall. Or two, reduce to splinters a Hallet Davis baby grand most likely manufactured in Boston decades before yesterday's piano movers were born.

Option two was selected — although the task was tougher than the wrecking crew had imagined. Breathing heavily, Kooiman's dad, Steve, said it took 10 people two hours to tear the piano to pieces using crowbars and heavy hammers.

Plus, according to Pat Snyder, parent coordinator of the cleanup, the team was willing to allow others to play a part in giving the aging instrument a send-off.

"We dragged in all the little kindergarten, first- and second-grade boys and said, 'Here's your chance to bang on the piano!' " said Snyder.

And bang they did. The experience had a cathartic quality to it.

"I really enjoyed it — to completely demolish a piano with a sledgehammer," said Kooiman, as she stood beside a heap of wood chunks, piano keys, felt mallets and tangled strings ready to be hauled away. "I used to play it, and I hated it, and now I got to destroy it. And I've never been happier. I'm just glad I could put my destructive tendencies to good use."

She gave pause, however, when her dad told her, "The learning experience in this is that you girls are going to have to put the piano back together."

He was kidding.

Through the drizzle and fun and games, the hard work went on throughout the day.

Rick Ornellas, the school's development director, said preparing for Make A Difference Day is a monumental chore in itself.

"It was a humongous effort just getting set up," said Ornellas. "It takes at least a month. Just the logistics of getting all the tools and paint and implements is tremendous. This morning it rained, so we had to find tents to put over the statues so we could paint them."

"It is a lot of work," Souza said. "But it happens, and the beautification gets done. And the students are having a wonderful time playing in the rain.

"Not often you can get legitimately that wet and not get yelled at."