On the afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 17 Justin Huffaker opened his front door to the worst sound he’s ever heard in his life.

A water fall was cascading down into his living room. He took a step into his two-story home, and noticed that water was pouring down the stairs, water was dripping from the ceiling in the kitchen and front rooms, dripping from light fixtures, and his living room was under three inches of water.

A busted pipe in his attic from the winter storms had created shock, even disbelief. And the road to recovery is just beginning for the VP of Strategic Technology at Datamax.

“You just cannot believe that level of damage is being sustained by your home,” Justin says. “When you see it, you’re confronted with it, and you hear all the water coming down, it’s disbelief … I’m normally someone who can handle bad news, I can handle pressure. But when I was talking about it to people, I could feel tears in my eyes.”

During the winter storm of 2021, for the first time ever all offices were closed at Datamax. It impacted our homes, it impaired our ability to care for customers. As a Datamax family, we suffered. We stepped up. And, again as a family, we continue to focus on recovery.

"This was the first time and hopefully the only time when we have had all offices closed at the same time," Datamax Inc. President Barry Simon said. 

In Texarkana, Lee Norris stepped up big for the local police station.

Arkansas Service Manager Mark McKinney fielded service calls from his home on Tuesday of the snow week. Calls trickled in slowly, one from the Texarkana Police Department.

“He asked me if I could go, and I told him I drive a little Nissan front wheel drive, and I’m not sure I can make it in these conditions,” Lee Norris recalls.

Mark called the police station in downtown Texarkana to get a better read on the roads in that area. The department was desperate to get their copier up and running again. So they offered to come pick up Lee in one of their vehicles.

“He shows up to my house in a H3 Hummer, an undercover car, picked me up, took me up there and waited for me to finish. Then he took me back home,” Lee recalls. “I was surprised that they would do that – but I think it reinforced just how bad they needed it fixed. That copier is the only printer they have for that department.”

The six officers thanked Lee profusely for helping out when they were down. It made a great impression.

“I’ve been doing this for 15 years, I’ve never done anything like this before,” Lee says. “I think something like this reflects good on Datamax. Going above and beyond to go out there and get them fixed.”

Not all the news was good in Texarkana.

The crew showed up Monday morning to see water standing in the demo room, entry way and kitchen area due to a busted pipe. Water was still flowing. Lee Wheelington contacted the city and shut the water off. 

"Fortunately it didn’t get too deep in there and no equipment was damaged,” Lee said. “They set up about 10 fans to dry everything out, and we had to remove all the base boards. The place is dry now. Now we’re working to get everything put back together.”

In East Texas, ClientCONNECT team member Esmeralda Perez endured more than seven days without running water.

“On that Saturday (the 13th), we took a nap that afternoon. We woke up about three hours later and noticed that the pipes were frozen,” she recalls.

The family went days without showering. They endured intermittent and eventually days-long power outages. The back of their toilet even froze to a block of ice. Esmeralda says she’s lived in Tyler her entire life, and never witnessed anything like the storms of last month.

Her takeaway? The next time, her focus will be on better preparation.

“Definitely want to have all the supplies and food that we need. I’ve always sort of watched the weather and figured ‘it’s not going to be that bad.’ The next time (local Meteorologist Mark Scirto) warns of something like this, I’ll take it more seriously. We will be prepared.”

But even amid the weather, duty called ....  in particular at the UT Health East Texas hospital.

Service Manager Justin Harper worked several service calls remotely, while technician Michael Johnson, who lives near the hospital, went onsite for a few hardware issues and delivered toner where it was needed. 

"Nothing was going to stop us from servicing them," Justin said. "Some people said they could wait until the roads cleared, but it's the caliber of the service, the expectations that we put on ourselves there."

Though the historic storms have come to pass, the focus on recovery for many of our own continues. Justin Huffaker, who will have to wait six months before he can return to his home, says that many at Datamax have helped him in seeking out a short-term rental in the meantime. Many of us were impacted in multiple ways. But the focus remains on recovery, on helping, on persevering together. 

It's the Datamax way. It's just what family does.