H15 Teen Center marks 10 years serving Holmes County youth

H15 Teen Center reached its 10-year mark in Millersburg this spring, with the anniversary tied to a small but telling beginning: eight teens showed up when the center first opened its doors on March 26, 2016, at 34 E. Jackson St.

The teen center grew out of Andy Schafer’s idea for H15 Ministries, which he moved on Oct. 27, 2015. The ministry became a nonprofit on Feb. 10, 2016, then opened the teen center a little more than a month later with a mission that has stayed consistent ever since: give local teens a safe place to have fun, work, learn and find shelter. H15 Ministries says everything it does is free.

That original vision was built around more than a place for teenagers to pass time after school. Early coverage of the ministry described Schafer’s goal as creating a youth center for Holmes County teens that also fostered meaningful relationships with Christian adults, a structure meant to keep young people connected to trusted mentors as well as to one another. Later, the center’s role widened further when it was identified as an emergency shelter for the Holmes County Juvenile Court, giving the downtown Millersburg space an added function when a young person needs immediate protection.

The center’s second decade also begins with the reality that it still relies on community support. A February 2025 fundraising dinner was planned to benefit general operations and renovations at the East Jackson Street location, a sign that the building’s work is ongoing even as the mission holds steady. For families in Holmes County, that matters because H15 remains one of the few dedicated places where teens can gather without paying a fee and where adults have tried to build a consistent, supervised environment for them.

At 34 E. Jackson St., H15 Teen Center has become more than a startup ministry. It has endured as a free, local safety net, a place where a small first-day crowd of eight teens grew into a decade-long commitment to Holmes County youth.