MIDLAND, Texas —
Every year Samuel Lucio and his family hold an annual luncheon for local first responders in Midland, it was started by his father, Juan Lucio, a local pastor and evangelist.
“It started kind of when I got into law enforcement, my dad felt compelled to show appreciation for those who keep our community safe and felt like providing them a lunch once a year for anyone who wants to come have a home cooked meal.” said Samuel, a warrant officer for the Midland Municipal Court, from there it became an annual tradition for the family.
As being involved in law enforcement himself, Samuel understands the importance of showing support to first responders and knows firsthand how much it’s appreciated by first responders when their community goes out of their way to do so.
“It's nice to know that there are people out there that really, truly do appreciate you and what you do and thankfully Midland is, I feel like very pro law enforcement... It's nice to feel appreciated and again, you know, with not only law enforcement, but with fire and EMS and all of our first responders, I think it's important for them to feel appreciated,” Samuel continued.
They've even had first responders from Odessa and Ector County show up to the luncheon before.
Samuel says that while first responders are more than proud to do their jobs, they’re also more than just their uniform.
“You know, at the end of the day, we're all still people, just like, just like our citizens are and we do the job to provide for a safer community for our community,” Samuel added.