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Midland families making a difference for young professionals

“What I get from it is just how important relationships and connections are to making a place feel like home."

MIDLAND, Texas — Being new in town is not always easy, so to help with the transition from college into the working world, three Midland families are joining together to host monthly dinners for young working professionals. 

“About a year ago both of my kids moved back to Midland from college and a lot of their classmates who moved to town as well. We thought why don’t we have them over periodically? Let’s just have a home cooked meal for them and a chance for them to just hang out for a while,” said Barry Thomas, one of the hosts.

The group started with 20 people, now there are over 130.

Daniel Crews moved to Midland less than a week ago after graduating from the Colorado School of Mines. Crews says it has been nice to socialize with people from different places that are his age. 

“I’m coming from Colorado and a lot of people here are from Texas universities and even some from the south and so I mean it’s a good way to meet people you wouldn’t normally get to meet,” Crews said. 

Among the group are geologists, engineers, accountants, human relations, and yes, even some of the NewsWest 9 team have joined in on the fun.

“We don’t even have a name for it. We talk about it being young professionals, but I think of it as people who are starting their careers, so career starters?" Thomas jokingly said.

Even though there is not a name that makes the group official, these folks know it is an important part of making a place feel like a community. 

“I think Midland can be a hard place place to get to know other people. Especially if you’re single. It seems like you either meet people at church or the bar, and there’s not much in-between. So this is kind of an in-between place,” Thomas said. 

For people like Crews, this in-between group has already made a difference.

“I think it’s important just for morale. It’s always good just to socialize and talk about things outside of work. But it’s also really good to be able to make connections,” Crews said.

The Thomas family says they are also impacted by the relationships built at each dinner.

“What I get from it is just how important relationships and connections are to making a place feel like home.”

Barry says hosting the event makes him and the rest of the families happy. 

“It’s a good thing. It’s something that adds value to people and it doesn’t take a lot of effort" Thomas said. 

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