Free preschool is without a home

All that’s missing is a location.

“Our phones ring off the hook just about every day in our Marietta office with calls from parents wanting to know if we have a building yet,” Feed My Lambs director Elizabeth Weatherby said. “This is the first fall in 15 years that they haven’t had a school open in Marietta.”

The first Feed My Lambs five-day school was in Marietta’s Johnny Walker Homes in 1995. The school operated there for seven years, at Fort Hill Homes for five, and relocated to donated classrooms in several churches and, most recently, a charter school, until losing access last year.

“We’ve been functioning all these years through donated buildings. We’ve never owned a school, never had to pay rent,” Weatherby said. “Now, we need a home to be able to stay put and hopefully expand our grades.”

Feed My Lambs is a nonprofit ministry that counts on donations from businesses, churches and individuals to operate tuition-free Christian schools in impoverished areas. The goal is to empower at-risk children spiritually, academically, physically and socially while impacting the families and communities.

“Christian schools are very expensive. There are many families who want their kids to go to a Christian school but can’t because of finances,” Weatherby said. “The mandate God gave to me is to open Christian schools in poverty areas.”

The ministry serves almost 1,800 children worldwide. Preschools are operating in Austell, Canton and Atlanta, where the first three-day school opened at Techwood Homes in 1994.

Through a partnership with Atlanta’s City of Refuge, Feed My Lambs offers a year-round, eight-hour school for homeless children from birth to age 5. Internationally, Feed My Lambs operates three elementary schools in Africa and two in Mexico.

Children attend the preschools for four hours and receive two hot meals. Teachers follow the Wee Learn curriculum, a Christ-centered program that prepares students for school while building a Bible-based foundation.

“People need to understand that the first five years of a child’s life are the foundational years, when character and personality are being developed,” Weatherby said. “I’ve had elementary school teachers tell me they can always recognize Feed My Lambs students because they are so kind and smart.”

Ray Buday, executive director of the Marietta Housing Authority, has fond memories of his visits to the Marietta school.

“They’ve done a wonderful job,” Buday said. “The kids were just delightful. They’d come up and hug me. They were extremely well-mannered.”

Martha Miller has taught in the Marietta academy since the beginning. “Miss Martha’s” students benefit from far more than just learning their ABCs.

“A lot of those children in that area were very needy. We were there to help them get through their crisis. Being a part of that community made me feel like we were a part of their families,” Miller said.

“There is not one time that Feed My Lambs did not come through to help those families. If we didn’t have something they needed, we found it for them.”

At Christmas, the ministry hosts “Happy Birthday, Jesus” parties for academy students. More than 1,200 families packed the Cobb Civic Center for last year’s event, which included face painting, crafts, birthday cake, gifts, and the story of Jesus’ birth. This year’s party is set for Dec. 18.

The support of community volunteers, as well as local businesses and individuals who have a heart for children, is vital to the success of Feed My Lambs.

“When we started this ministry, I was a wife and mother and sang country music,” said Weatherby, whose sons Kells II and Blake now work with her. “I want women to know that you don’t have to get a degree for God to call you into ministry. God took a simple family that loved the Lord, and you can see how far God’s brought us.”

A search is on for a new location in Cherokee County, where the Woodstock school closed last year due to loss of space.

In Cobb County, Weatherby hopes to find a home near Marietta Square, where most of the children who are on the waiting list live. This time, she’s hoping for a permanent location.

“We’re grateful for donated buildings, but we’re ready for a home. The children are waiting.”