Meriplex Gives Back to Houston Food Bank in Local Competition

Last month, Meriplex Communications employees competed against one another in support of the Houston Food Bank “Hunger Game,” a three-week long competition dedicated to feeding as many people possible, where participants earn points by donating food, funds and volunteer time to benefit the Houston Food Bank. Tapping into our natural competitive spirit, Meriplex created three internal teams to motivate employee participation via donations and community volunteering.

Throughout the Month

The competition grew fierce, primarily between Teams 1 and 2, as they exchanged the lead almost daily. Where one team focused on monetary & food donations, the other rallied their members to volunteering after-hours multiple times at the Houston Food Bank Portwall Warehouse, boxing food for the Greater Houston community. In the final week, competition reached a fevered pitch, with food donations piling up, monetary donations – large and small – pouring in, and team members sneaking off after-work to earn another hour of volunteer work.

Final Day

On the final day, with the internal competition ending at 2 p.m., the leading teams began to strategize how to out-wit or out-donate the other. Food donations increased after the lunch hour and both teams were neck and neck until the final minute, when only monetary donations would make a difference.  Employees gathered, eager to learn the results, while the Marketing team tallied up the points and returned the results. Always prepared, the winning Team sang “We are the Champions” while the losing Team Captains graciously conceded.

With our amazing employees, who served our community in a fun and competitive way, Meriplex provided 12,938 meals through food donations and volunteer hours and raised $3,532.54 for the Houston Food Bank.

While Meriplex employees exemplify our core values of being willing, humble, achievers through teamwork, giving 100% for results in both their daily work and for others, the real winners last month are the community of people served by the Houston Food Bank.

Houston, TX – November 1, 2021 – Meriplex, a leader in managed cybersecurity and IT solutions, announces its asset acquisition of managed services provider, Optimum Networking. Since 1995, Optimum has been focused on providing managed IT solutions, network security services, cloud computing and VoIP services to support growing businesses in the market and the Oil & Gas vertical.

“We are very excited to have Optimum Networking joining the Meriplex team,” said David Henley, CEO of Meriplex. “We are expanding our physical presence in Colorado to support clients locally, and with Optimum being well-establish in the market for over 26 years along with their talented workforce, we will be able to accomplish our goal of being the top MSP/MSSP in the Colorado market.”

Joe Turnbough, CEO of Optimum Networking adds, “By combining forces with a larger organization like Meriplex, we will be able to provide our clients with more robust managed technology solutions with 24×7 support, while still providing them the premium level of service they are accustomed to.”

Meriplex focuses on strategically acquiring managed services providers across the nation to establish a local physical presence in the region and acquire top talent to support their growing organization. If you are interested in learning more about their M&A process, please reach out to them here.

About Meriplex: 

Meriplex is a managed cybersecurity, IT, and SD-WAN solutions provider headquartered in Houston, TX that enables transformation by combining secure, innovative technology with advanced expertise. As a trusted partner, we deliver business-driven solutions that provide the scalability and support needed to power growth for organizations. To learn more, visit www.meriplex.com or follow them on LinkedIn.

About Optimum Networking  

At Optimum Networking, our mission is to help SMB owners get the maximum return on investment from their IT spend, securing/protecting their critical business information and empowering them to focus on growing their core business. We can plug the gaps in your existing IT team, or affordably become your virtual team from technician to CIO. We offer comprehensive managed service options that reduce overall IT costs by providing on-going technical support.