More than 6,500 "Mormon Helping Hands" volunteers are expected to fan out across O'ahu, Maui, Kaua'i, Lāna'i and the Big Island today for a daylong endeavor of beautifying more than 80 of Hawai'i's city and state parks.

Volunteers are slated to donate nearly 20,000 work hours cleaning up beaches, picking up trash, landscaping, painting playground equipment and facilities, and performing numerous other improvements.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Mormon Helping Hands program first organized the annual day of service in 1998. Since then, hundreds of thousands of volunteers from around the world have collectively donated millions of hours of service to their communities.

KOGANJI TEMPLE HOSTS BLESSING, FESTIVAL FOR KIDS

Koganji Temple in Mānoa will hold its annual Children's Blessing and Festival from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. next Saturday at 2869 O'ahu Ave.

Temple founder Bishop Jikyu Rose will give a blessing before festivities get under way. Among the highlights for children: hands-on taiko sessions, face- and nail-painting, tattoo art, video games and games of skill, and a book and toy sale. Food booths will be selling Koganji Temple's signature fresh andagi and kimono dogs, yakisoba, shave ice, baked goods, specialty komochi, jams, cakes, snacks, cookies and more.

The festivities are open to the public, and are free. For more information, call 988-4905, or go to www.koganjitemple.org.

CELEBRATION OF BUDDHA'S BIRTH STARTS ON FRIDAY

A three-day celebration of the birth of the Buddha, sponsored by the Hawaii Buddhist Cultural Society, starts Friday at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza.

Friday's highlights include a Buddhist children's storytelling contest in Chinese and English, 7 p.m. in suite 216; free.

• May 15: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., opening ceremony, Buddhist exhibition, bathing of the statue of Buddha, vegetarian bento.

• May 16: 10 a.m., Diamond Sutra Repentance Buddhist service, suite 216.

The celebration's activities are open to the public. For more information, call 545-1183.

ENJOY WORKS OF BACH AT LUTHERAN CHURCH

The works of Johann Sebastian Bach — a large number written for Sunday services and festivals in the Lutheran calendar — will be featured in a 4 p.m. concert tomorrow at Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

The concert, "A Bach Pilgrimage VII," will feature vocalists, the church choir and the Bach Chamber Orchestra. Admission is $20 ($15 for seniors over 65, and $10 for full-time students). For more information, call 941-2566 or visit www.lchwelcome.org.