October Fundraiser Honors Bonnie Gurwicz

Spruce Home and Garden (New Milford, Conn.), a “lifestyle emporium” with five stores in the New York-Connecticut area (plus two in Florida), will sponsor a fundraising effort this month to raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

The effort this year is in honor of Bonnie Sylvor Gurwicz, a veteran of the visual merchandising profession who died earlier this year of the disease. She most recently worked at Spruce with company president Steven Wilburn, formerly senior director of creative for the visual merchandising and store planning divisions of Saks Fifth Avenue (New York) and a former member of the VMSD Editorial Advisory Board.

Gurwicz came into the industry with Sylvor Display, eventually owning and running the family business. She also worked at Trimco and Holiday Image before joining Spruce.

The Spruce fundraiser will run from October 12-26, offering five exclusive items with all the profits going to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund: a special edition snake skin print scarf ($24); a double wrap leather bracelet ($18); a limited edition Spruce candle ($14); an Amanda Jaron teal twist cuff ($25); and an Amanda Jaron flower lapel pin ($20).

Additionally, Spruce will donate 10 percent of all its sales for Saturday, October 26, both from its stores and its web sites, sprucehomeandgarden.com and sprucewholesale.com.

“I have known Bonnie as a friend and colleague for 20 years and she has been a part of our family here at Spruce for the last three years,” said Wilburn. “Supporting OCRF is one small way we can all honor her memory and help to find a cure”