Couple enjoys making food for ‘The Reliant’ cast and crew
WARSAW – After her children left the nest, Melody Miller began watching cooking shows on television and discovered she had a passion for cooking.
“My husband has always been a good cook,” she said. “When he was about 12 years old, his mother got a job at the post office and he had to start making dinners just about every night.”
Melody and her husband Richard, a Mississippi couple, were recently in Coshocton County serving meals to the cast and crew of “The Reliant”, a post-apocalyptic movie written by Dr. Patrick Johnston of Zanesville, OH. The couple met Johnston and his wife while attending an Operation Save America ministry, which is a nation-wide pro-life ministry.
Richard and Melody felt led by God to sell their home and travel America in an RV. It was while they were at an Operation Save America rally in Wichita, KS that they heard Johnston make an announcement that he was working on the movie. The Millers automatically knew they wanted to help.
When the cast and crew came to Coshocton to film, the couple set up their RV in Warsaw and fired up the oven. They stayed at the Warsaw Retreat Center.
“They were wonderful,” said Melody. “It was a great retreat center. The best thing for us, they have a phenomenal kitchen. It was the best cooking experience I have ever had. Warsaw is a beautiful little town.”
They fixed three meals a day for those involved with the movie, but were able to scale back to just fixing dinner after one week when a caterer stepped in to provide breakfast and lunch. During their stay, New Beginnings Ministry in Warsaw helped by providing soups, desserts, and worked hard to make the filming possible.
“Sometimes I would wake up at six o’clock in the morning to start breakfast and then after dinner and cleaning up, be done at ten o’clock at night,” said Melody. “We were doing 14-hour days.”
That wasn’t her only challenge. Some members of the cast and crew had special diets that had to be considered. The two made dinners catered to vegetarians, Paleo dieters, people who had lactose intolerance, and one who ate only fish.
According to Melody, the couple spent six to eight hours a day shopping and cooking.
“We never knew how many were going to show up for dinner,” said Melody. “We got to see God multiply our food day after day. We never ran out of food.”
Melody said she hates to see good food go to waste, but fortunately, that never happened.
“The biggest miracle I saw was, on Friday, we didn’t get word that they were all going out for dinner, so we had the entire buffet here,” said Melody. “Only one person came through that night. On Sunday, I made everyone breakfast and told them there was food left over from Friday night, and they ate all of it. I didn’t have to throw any food away.”
The Millers recently returned to Mississippi, but will never forget their time in Ohio.
“We had a beautiful time in Ohio,” said Melody. “Everyone has been grateful, kind and sweet.”
Richard is a retired coach and principal and was named 1975 Coach of the Year in Arkansas. Melody has a degree in journalism and nursing and has had her work published in a nursing journal for several years. They said they are ready for their next big adventure.
Category: People & Places
