CUDAHY, Wisc. — In the wake of the murder of a UW-Whitewater student due to suspected domestic violence, we wanted to see if there were any local efforts to combat the issue.
That’s when TMJ4’s Elaine Rojas-Castillo met Sherri Fansler.
“The reason I do this is I can't stop violence, but I want people to feel that someone cares about them,” said Fansler.
In 2018, Fansler’s niece Liz was murdered by her ex-boyfriend when dropping their son off for a scheduled visit.
“He bound her, and he shot her in the head, and then fled the scene and left Jay behind. He was two, with his dying mom and a loaded gun,” said Fansler.
As a way to honor her memory, Fansler started creating shower kits for domestic violence survivors to use after their medical exams, which usually take between 4-6 hours.
Watch: Cudahy woman is helping domestic violence survivors one kit at a time:
“Depending on what crime they endured, there's swabbing, there's collection of evidence, there's samples taken, and that takes a very long time,” said Fansler.
Fansler says she started making the pouches five years ago, after nurses shared the sadness they felt in struggling to offer some form of comfort.
"She just lamented the fact that they really didn't have anything nice to give the patients,” said Fansler.
Since then, she has created and donated more than 750 kits to Aurora Sinai’s Sexual Assault Treatment Center, thanks to donations collected from special barrels housed in two local restaurants, Mexic103 in Cudahy and The Tap Room in South Milwaukee.
She says she chose that site because of its proximity to many Milwaukee-area colleges and her hope that young women can learn from her niece’s last message.
“‘You are enough’ was the last post my niece made on social media when she finally got the courage to leave her ex and she decided that she was enough, there didn't need to be another reason,” said Fansler.
If you would like to donate cash or products to Fansler directly, you can email her at sherri.fansler@gmail.com or via Messenger on her personal Facebook page.
Additionally, she also takes donations through purchases made from an Amazon wish list.
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