ZELIENOPLE — Christians will ask God this evening to bring peace to the hallways and classrooms of the Seneca Valley School District following the deaths of several student.

A service titled, "United in Prayer for Seneca Valley," will occur from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Harmony-Zelienople United Methodist Church.

The service was organized because of the recent misfortune suffered among students who attend the district's secondary campus, including two suicides that have been called bully-related and two car accidents that killed students.

Jerry Toczek of Virginia organized the multidenominational event. His wife is a Seneca Valley alumna and was a friend of 2001 suicide victim and Seneca Valley Middle School student Joey Sauers.

The Toczeks heard about all the tragic incidents at the campus through Zelienople relatives.

"We were kind of broken up about it," Jerry Toczek said Thursday.

Toczek called 50 churches of all denominations in a 20-mile radius of Zelienople to invite Christians to pray for peace for Seneca Valley students, staff and administrators.

"All denominations responded enthusiastically," Toczek said. "We could end up with 60 or 600 (people at the service)."

He said the event will include five "prayer focuses" by various individuals and clergy, including:

n Repentance and prayer for district staff.

• Repentance and prayer for students past, present and future.

• Unification within the community.

• Unification within the Body of Christ.

• Generation arising, which is having the younger generation step up and take its place in society.

Toczek stressed the goal of the service is not to disparage the school district or to point blame. He said the goal is for community members to come together and unify.

"We're all in this together," Toczek said.

School board members Ann Reale and Joseph Scalamonga said Thursday they were unaware of the event and were unsure if they could attend.

Board vice president Anthony Storti said he was unaware of the event and had another engagement to attend this evening.

Linda Andreassi, district director of communications, said Thursday she did not receive the e-mail invitations she requested from Toczek. She planned to distribute those invitations when they were received.

Andreassi said she mentioned the service to a few coworkers in the administration office, but she was unaware if any board members or administrators would attend because she did not get the invitations from Toczek.

She said Toczek admitted he overlooked school officials when sending invitations and said he would e-mail the invitations.

"I never received the e-mail," Andreassi said.