September 2023 - Personal Collections

Collection Submissions
FROM
Universal Employees & Their Family Members!

Baseball Game Tickets & Over 300 Sports Pocket Schedules
Chris Cartan – Head Office

Rugby Paraphernalia
Karen Gasbarino – Airport

Rugby is a very big part of my life. I am honoured to be able to say that I am Canada’s only female rugby-centered sports’ writer. Although that is starting to change with new writers up and coming, I am proud to have carved the path and light the way for other women rugby pundits. I am also the Communications Manager for the Canadian Classics rugby team, and last year I was a Gilbert Rugby Champion. Gilbert manufactures all the match balls and they work hard to grow the game. A Champion is a builder or player who shares their values. Everywhere you look in my life, there is rugby. The shelf in the photo is in my living room, the signed shirts hang from my bedroom door, my license plate refers to rugby, and I just got a rugby/writing-themed tattoo.

Blue Jays Back-To-Back Winner Memorabilia & Beer Mugs from Agent NAVIS
Michael Glionna – Head Office

Back in 1992 and 1993, the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series title “back-to-back”. The Jays championships in 1992 and 1993 are simply known as “Back-To-Back”.

The Jays are the last Major League Baseball team to win the World Series in consecutive seasons. Winning in back-to-back seasons is incredibly rare, especially when there are 30 teams in the Big Leagues fighting for that title. In those years, the Jays heroics were commemorated on everything from cereal boxes, to Coke pop cans, to toothbrushes. I tried to collect and keep every item I could find, including the Toronto Star newspaper from the day after the Jays won their first World Series in 1992.

Rubber Duckies
Spencer Leis – John Leis’ Son

Books
Barbara Mulatinho – Head Office

Interior Decorating
Pamela Randolph – Cleveland

I have loved interior decorating and re-arranging furniture since I was 8 years old. I am working on being an influencer on social media to inspire and support others who have this passion as well! I create stylings around my house and share what products I use so that they can be found easily. I have even had Target and Kirkland share photos of my decorating on their websites which is so flattering.

Reborn Dolls
Mandy Cebrynski – Niagara Falls

Buffalo Bills Apparel
Buffalo Team

MLB Baseballs & Espresso Cups
Matthew Glionna – Michael Glionna’s Son

At the age of 8, Matthew started collecting baseballs of the Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, and he has been on a mission to visit each MLB park in North America ever since. Each time he visits a Big League (or Minor League) ballpark, he gets a souvenir baseball with the team’s logo for his collection. Currently, Matthew has visited the ballparks and has baseballs for 17 of the 30 MLB teams.

In the past few years, through his enjoyment of coffee and especially espresso, Matthew started collecting espresso mugs from the various countries and cities he visits.

Architectural Lego
Jason Glionna – Michael Glionna’s Son

From a very young age, Jason enjoyed building with Lego blocks. As he got older (around 9 years old), he advanced to architectural Lego where the Lego pieces get much smaller and the process of building gets much more detailed and intricate. After building the particular monument or city scape from countries/cities all over the world, he displays them in his bedroom.

Coins
Rafael Gomez – Nicolas Gomez’s Brother

When I asked my brother why he collects coins, he told me, “I started the collection when I was 11-12 years old. I like the stories that you can discover behind every coin and the thousands of things you can learn from it – symbolism, material, shape, and when it was made.”

Soccer Jerseys
Debbie D’Ornellas’ Son In-Law

Fridge Magnets, Plants & Shot Glasses
Maggie Gragasin – Head Office

Pandas Mandy Chan – Head Office

The picture hanging on the wall is one of my new favourite pandas, YaYa, I found it coincidentally recently. Front row, second from the left, is my favorite bear, Bei Bei. The one with red shirt in the middle is his little brother, Xiao Qi Ji.

12-sided Nickels & China
Wendy Nigro – Head Office

My generation were big collectors of ‘things’. I have a 12-sided nickel collection. When I was a young girl, I used to love collecting these nickels. I had one aunt, whom I rarely saw, but when I did, she would always have a few to add to my collection. They don’t have any particular value, but I can’t seem to cash them in, because that aunt has since passed on and I know her fingers touched many of them. For this reason, they are very special to me. I used to be a collector of antique tea cups and fancy tea pots that look like houses. Because of my love of antique tea cups, I have been fortunate enough to have some that my grandmothers shared with me. Unfortunately, I recently had to get rid of one of our china cabinets (like the one in the picture), and my tea cups and pots made it into storage for when my youngest daughter, Kate, apparently gets married. She has said that she wants a wedding shower in a ‘high-tea’ fashion. This will give me a great reason to dig them out and share the beauty with others.

Crankbaits
David Lychek – Head Office

Keychains
Melanie Basu – Head Office

Mini Toys & Beer Cans
Alice Yan – Head Office

Calling all Universal Employees!

We are looking for volunteers to contribute short articles to Universal & You. Topics can be team or industry-related or you might want to share a personal experience (e.g. volunteer work or travel) with your fellow employees.

Please forward your ideas to Sharon Fong.

September 2023 – Personal Collections