A West Windsor Invitation: Daniel Shenk’s Story of Faith, Family, Identity, and AIDS Activism

West Windsor resident Cynthia Yoder recently reached out to share a deeply personal and meaningful community event connected to her family’s story, LGBTQ+ history, faith, and the power of honest storytelling.

On Saturday, July 11, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm, the community is invited to a reading, conversation, book signing, and social gathering for Search for a Blessing: A Gay Man’s Journey from a Mennonite Missionary Childhood to the Streets of AIDS Activism, a new LGBTQ+ memoir co-authored by Daniel Shenk and Joyce Maxwell.

The event will take place at the First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck, Social Hall Building, located at 154 South Mill Road in West Windsor. Books will be available for purchase, and refreshments will be served.

Daniel Shenk’s story is both personal and historical. Raised in a Mennonite missionary family in East Africa, Daniel eventually left that world and found his way to New York City. There, he fully claimed his identity as a gay man, built community, and became part of the grassroots AIDS activism of the 1980s and 1990s.

His memoir explores family, faith, rejection, care, transformation, and the long road toward acceptance. It is also a reminder that LGBTQ+ history is not only told through national movements and public figures, but through families, churches, friendships, communities, and the lives of those who chose to show up during moments of fear and crisis.

Cynthia, Daniel’s niece by marriage, also wrote about part of this family story in The Advocate in an article titled “Hard family conversations spanned decades until change arrived at the 11th hour.” The piece reflects on difficult conversations within Mennonite families, the pain caused by exclusion, and the possibility of change even late in life.

You can read Cynthia’s article in The Advocate here: https://www.advocate.com/voices/mennonite

One line from Daniel, quoted in a May interview with Virginia’s Daily News-Record, captures the importance of this work: “The best way to deobjectify a person or a group is to tell their story.”

That is exactly what this event offers.

At a time when LGBTQ+ stories, books, and histories continue to face political and cultural attacks across the country, opportunities like this matter. They give us a chance to listen, to learn, to honor the courage of those who lived through difficult chapters of our history, and to recognize the families and communities still working through what acceptance, love, and belonging truly require.

The event is free and open to the community.

Event Details

Reading, Conversation, Book Signing, and Social Gathering

Search for a Blessing: A Gay Man’s Journey from a Mennonite Missionary Childhood to the Streets of AIDS Activism

By Daniel Shenk and Joyce Maxwell

Saturday, July 11, 2026

4:00 to 5:30 pm

First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck

Social Hall Building

154 South Mill Road, West Windsor, NJ

Books will be available for purchase, and refreshments will be served.