Zoda "Rainie" Miller

Zoda “Rainie” Miller, Workplace Banking Representative for the Fort Wayne and Muncie Region, has always been passionate about helping others.

“As a teen, I worked as a candy striper in the hospital, and once, I organized a fundraiser to help a fellow student pay for medical bills following a bad car accident,” she shared.

Her passion for helping others eventually led her to a career in banking, where she feels she can make a real impact on people’s day-to-day lives.

“I loved that,” she shared. “I love turning people’s lives around with something as simple as a budget, or when someone comes to my office in tears, and I can help them with a debt consolidation loan, help them sleep. It felt good – it feels good.”

In her spare time, Rainie served as the Eucharistic Minister for her church, visiting parish members who were ill and giving them communion.

But a close brush with her own mortality drove Rainie’s determination to help others even higher.

“I came down with cancer, and it was a bit of a battle,” she said. “I just started thinking about all the things I got mad at for no reason – I started thinking about what would happen if I passed away. What impact did I leave on the world?”

Rainie threw herself into volunteerism, getting more involved with various organizations and spending more time helping with her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

“But then I had some complications and went into congestive heart failure,” she shared. “I was put on a ventilator, and I remember the doctor counseling my family about organizing my funeral and my priest giving me last rights. At that time, I wasn’t thinking about how much money I had in the bank or what my job title was. I just thought about my family and what I would be leaving behind. I said, ‘If I can get through this, my purpose will be helping the community.’”

Rainie did recover – “My heart function is back to normal, and my cancer is about as close to cured as you can get” – and she did keep her promise.

After healing, Rainie joined several local boards and gave her spare time to various volunteer efforts in and around Allen County, Ind. Now, she serves on the board of Christian Community Healthcare, an organization that provides free healthcare to those in need and also holds a position on the board for the Grabill Chamber of Commerce. She also teaches financial literacy classes at the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission, supports A Mother’s Hope – a local homeless shelter for pregnant women and new mothers – and hands out turkeys around Thanksgiving as part of the Harvest Food Bank’s annual Turkey Drive.

She still manages to make time for family – her husband, Chad, daughter, Lexie, son, Cross, and the family’s two dogs, Ace and Blitz, and cat, Hershey Kiss Miller.

She also loves helping others daily through her work with First Merchants Bank. Her goal is simple: “I know what it feels like to think you’re out of time and to think, "I don’t feel like left a mark. I don’t feel like I helped people enough," she explained. “I know that time is going to come again, and, next time, I don’t want to have those same feelings – I want to have helped others as much as I can and to spread as much good as I am able.”

First Merchants Bank’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility compels us to invest in our communities by finding ways to reduce inequalities, improve the quality of our neighborhoods, and promote positive economic mobility though our five community pillars: Employee Empowerment; Community Investments and Charitable Giving; Financial Wellness; Community Home Lending; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This series features First Merchants teammates who embody the spirit and impact of the company’s Vision: “to enhance the financial wellness of the diverse communities we serve.”