MARIETTA - For the past 15 years, Marietta-based Feed My Lambs Christian Academy has been a beloved place for preschoolers whose low-income parents want a Christian-based education for them.

In August, however, the preschool was forced to shut down its Marietta location inside donated space at Marietta Charter School on Wright Street. Since then, parents placed on the school's waiting list call the main office daily, wanting to know when it will reopen in Marietta, according to staff.

"They opened up two classrooms for us and, in the meantime, they were planning on using those rooms for other classes," said Martha Miller, the former Marietta site director. "I guess they were waiting on some funding to come through. So when it came through, of course that left us homeless."

Feed My Lambs, a nonprofit ministry, has three other locations in Austell, Canton and Atlanta for students ages 3 to 5. It also operates schools in Liberia and Mexico. Besides being taught basic education in preparation for elementary school, Feed My Lambs provides two hot meals a day for students. Tuition is free.

Miller has been with the school since its establishment and is now the Austell site director. She said the popularity of Feed My Lambs among parents is a result of its focus on nondenominational Christian teaching.

"Some schools just let kids do whatever they want to do -- you make up your own mind, you make up your own choices," Miller said. "We are teaching them the Christian-based way of how to treat the parents. (For example) that this is your mommy, and it's all about love, honor and respect."

Presently, there are 25 students on Feed My Lambs' waiting list, according to school officials. Of those, about 10 are former Marietta students.

The school receives its funding from businesses, partners and individuals, said Jessica Young, assistant to the school's education director. It has a total of 30 employees.

Young said Feed My Lambs will definitely get another Marietta site. It's only a matter of when that will happen, she said.

School founder Elizabeth Weatherby said Feed My Lambs has been blessed with donated space through the years.

"We believe that God will soon move on the heart of someone to help us with a school building," school president Kells Weatherby II said in a statement. "The need in Marietta - where the first Feed My Lambs preschool opened - is great. Whether it's donated space or a permanent home, the children need us."

For more information, call the Feed My Lambs main office at (770) 795-9348 or visit www.feedmy lambs.net.