MENASHA — Teri Jendusa-Nicolai was beaten unconscious with a baseball bat, bound with duct tape, stuffed in a garbage container and left for dead in an unheated storage garage in winter.

She suffered a miscarriage and lost her toes to frostbite after she was abducted by her former husband, and has now dedicated herself to telling her story to educate others about domestic violence.

The story of her abduction in Wisconsin on Jan. 31, 2004, until she was found in a storage facility in a Chicago suburb a day later, made national news, and she will bring her story here Wednesday to kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Her talk at noon Wednesday at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley is being sponsored by UW-Fox Valley and supported by Harbor House Domestic Abuse Programs and Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services, which provide domestic abuse prevention programs and shelters in Outagamie, Winnebago and Calumet counties.

“Domestic Violence Awareness Month has traditionally been a time to celebrate the courage and survival of thousands of women and children who are living in abusive homes,” said Beth Schnorr, Harbor House executive director.

Jendusa-Nicolai's talk was arranged by Jeff Kuepper, student activities director at UW-Fox Valley, after he heard her speak at a national campus activities conference.

It's the first time the school will have a domestic violence program, but Kuepper said it's an appropriate message to bring to its 1,700 students and the community.

He said teens and young adults are affected by domestic violence, either within their families or in their own dating relationships, and many of the college's nontraditional students have experienced domestic violence.

“A lot of our students are outside that 18 to 21 age and a lot of them are coming back to school because they are coming out after an abusive relationship,” he said. “I think it touches more people than a lot of people really realize,” he said.

Megan Hickey, who graduated from Fox Valley Technical College last December and volunteers at Harbor House, said it's important to bring the message of domestic violence prevention to teens and young adults.

Jaclyn Reynolds, a 20-year-old Darboy woman who is taking this semester off from UW-Fox Valley, said she feels it's important to expose students to domestic violence issues.

Reynolds was a victim of violence in a relationship, from when she was 15 until she was nearly 19, and said the feelings she had are probably the same as many other teens.

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