NATCHEZ — Senseless violence claimed the life of a Natchez teenager this week, violence Joe Good just can’t seem to understand.

Good and his wife Dianne, who founded the nonprofit D&J Youth Group, work with area children to keep them off the streets and in school.

Around this time of the year, the Goods usually identify what the group needs most and put those needs at the top of their holiday wish list. Like all organizations that rely solely on donations, the group does have financial and supply needs, but at the top of this year’s list is a less tangible wish.

“We just wish for peace for our young people,” Good said. “If I had to say what’s at the top of our wish list, that would be it.”

Early Sunday, 17-year-old Justin Williams Jr. was killed when Jeffery Blanton Jr. reportedly began playing Russian roulette with a revolver as the two played dominoes at a residence in the Morgantown area of Natchez.

“For what?” Good said. “For what reason? There’s no reason. Our kids are dying at 16 and 17 years old, and there’s no reason. There’s no reason for you to be killing each other.”

Good said he makes it a point to constantly talk to the boys in the youth group about the importance of staying above peer pressure and away from violence.

“I try to save the ones who want to be saved,” Good said. “But to be saved, you have to want to be saved, that’s what I tell them.”

With D&J Youth Group, the Goods seek to give youth an alternative to the streets.

The youth group originally started as a way to expose Natchez children to travel and culture they might otherwise not have the opportunity to experience. The group has taken trips around the country and recently returned from Houston, Texas, where the group’s community choir performed at a church.

But the group has become about much more than just travel and culture.

The Goods opened the D&J Youth Group Resource Research Center a couple of years ago on Claiborne Street to give local children a place to do their homework and get computer access when they can’t make it to the library before it closes.

The Goods also provide snacks and drinks for the children at the center, as well as transportation.

Alpha Kappa Alpha members tutor children on Mondays and Tuesdays at the center. Wednesdays are choir practice.

The Goods ask that D&J members attend church at least two Sundays a month. Students are required to turn in their school progress reports to Dianne.

“We keep them so busy so they don’t have time to get into trouble,” Good said. “We instill in them to do good in school because there is a life out there for them. But I tell them, ‘You have to make that life for yourself. I can’t make that life for you, and when you make a choice in life, there’s consequences behind that.’”

With the help of donations and volunteer labor, the couple converted a shotgun house into one part of the center with computer and music rooms. D&J is also in the process of converting an adjacent shotgun house into a second location with a computer room and library.

The houses were donated by the Historic Natchez Foundation, which also gave a grant to D&J to help renovate the houses.

“The second house is almost complete,” Good said. “Crosspoint Church has really stepped up their game, and they’ve been a really big help in getting it ready.”

The house needs plumbing and wiring, and help with that is needed, Good said.

“We need to get the plumbing and wiring done, and once we do that, we’re really thinking we can get it open soon.”

Anyone wishing to donate money can make checks payable to D&J Youth Group and mail them to 26 E. Woodlawn Ave., Natchez, MS 39120.

D&J Youth Group is a 501(c)3 certified nonprofit organization.

For more information about volunteering or assisting with work on the center, contact Good at 601-442-4169 or 601-597-2815.